


Needy Bees

by BlackSansaStark



Series: The Elarisol Universe [3]
Category: Degrassi
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eclare never got back together and Marimo broke up, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, It’s going to be very smut heavy, S14 Era, crackship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:28:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 85,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27251221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackSansaStark/pseuds/BlackSansaStark
Summary: An AU of S14 where there is no pregnancy storyline but Clare still broke up with Eli under different circumstances and she’s back together with K.C.. Eli is depressed and alone working at The Dot until a fateful encounter with a single Marisol Lewis.
Relationships: Adam Torres/Becky Baker, Clare Edwards/K.C. Guthrie, Eli Goldsworthy/Marisol Lewis, Fiona Coyne/Imogen Moreno, Jake Martin/Katie Matlin
Series: The Elarisol Universe [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1767046
Kudos: 5





	1. How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?

**Author's Note:**

> Song title is Needy Bees by Nick Hakim, and the song for this chapter is How Can You Mend A Broken Heart by Al Green.
> 
> I conveniently changed some of the details over Eli and Clare falling apart in Sparks Will Fly because I hate the cheating plotline 😭

The heat from the hot weather could be felt even from inside The Dot.

Eli Goldsworthy was wiping the front counter from behind the bar as he watched customers come in and out of the restaurant, many of them Degrassi students. Did he miss Degrassi? Not really, the place was a hell hole but he did meet all his best friends there so it wasn’t too bad. But so far he was loving his adult, adventurous life in New York City. If the rent wasn’t so damn high, he would have spent his summer down there instead of back up here in Toronto during summer break. A part of him already craved for school to start back up.

He turned his attention towards his ex-girlfriend Clare Edwards, who was chatting happily with her first and current boyfriend K.C. Guthrie, and tried his hardest not to frown at the sight. They were drinking milkshakes together and sharing a large plate of barbecue wings.

Clare dumped him back in February over voicemail, and when he took the bus all the way from NYC to try to get her to change her mind, she only reaffirmed her decision. Ever since she recovered from her cancer and he went back to university, the communication between them has been rather shitty and the sparks between them had fizzled out as a result. She constantly expressed how lonely she felt without him, but he couldn’t just drop everything and keep flying or traveling up to Toronto to spend time with her when he had both college AND a film internship. He wasn’t ashamed to admit that he cried for three straight days in his dorm room when he got back to NYC. He even refused to leave his room outside of classes and only ate ramen noodles for meals. It was definitely a little pathetic but he was that heartbroken.

Clare Edwards was his second and greatest love, and he genuinely thought their love story was one that was going to last a lifetime. They have been through so much together in high school, and Clare throwing that all away over her silly freshman year boyfriend confused him greatly, especially since K.C. dumped her as soon as her friend Jenna started showing interest in him. The way this guy suddenly moved back to Toronto from British Columbia and swept the love of his life off of her feet while he was at university had him upset. What moments did they share that could have possibly convinced her that K.C. was a better fit for her than him when he cheated on her friend while they had a baby together? Okay sure, K.C. was far more intelligent than the average jock so their conversations can’t be  _ too _ boring but he was still positive that he and Clare had made a deeper connection when they first fell in love.

For the first month after their breakup, he convinced himself that Clare would come back to him just like the other times and so he tried to keep an upbeat tone. He pretended to be over her when she had to stay in his room for her interview at Columbia University. That night felt like old times between them and he was sure that they were going to get back together soon. Then she told him that she reconnected with K.C. and he realized that they were truly over for good. To say he didn’t take this well would be an understatement. It led to another period of him crying in his room and not leaving except for classes.

In the midst of desperately trying to get over her, he had slept with his female roommate, Lenore, who he  _ was _ attracted to. She had always made it clear from day one that she wanted him, and he couldn’t deny that she was a beautiful woman and was a great help during their first semester. There was one night where they were talking, and they almost kissed. He almost cheated on Clare with her. The massive guilt he felt from that action alone made him avoid speaking to her for a bit but after Clare dumped him, he found himself very willing to give in towards his attraction to her and he did.

After they had sex, they dated for like a month before they quickly got bored of each other and mutually broke up. He planned on saving up money for an apartment so he could move out of their dorm because things were now awkward between them and their other roommate J.J. was not handling it well. When they broke up,  _ he _ was the one crying for some reason.

So that was the summary of his life the past few months. His soulmate dumped him for an old flame, he got into an empty rebound relationship that went nowhere, and now he was back home working at The Dot where he got to have a front seat to the fairy tale romance of “Klare”. Oh and his old enemy Fitz, who pulled a fucking knife on him at a school dance, was one of his co-workers now and was trying to be friends with him.

God, did he hate his life.

The bell by the front door of the restaurant and one of his former classmates, Marisol Lewis, stepped in. Ah, another person he couldn’t stand in high school. She was the snobby, whiny, annoying, bitchy, and airheaded captain of the Power Squad and president of the school. She was initially only the vice president but her best friend, Katie Matlin, lost the presidency when she ruined the pep rally on purpose to show an embarrassing video of Drew Torres. It was a disaster.

They barely spoke to each other, and when they did, they were trading cold barbs to each other. To this day, he was annoyed that Bret Barnett, acclaimed director, preferred her film project over his initially when he visited their class. He even called her a young Sofia Coppola. As if she even knew who Sofia Coppola was. Unfortunately they were forced to tolerate the other’s presence because of Mo Mashkour. Mo was one of his friends while Marisol was his girlfriend. So for his sake, they had to put up with each other.

“Eli, table fifteen,” Spinner Mason, his manager, ordered. That was Marisol’s table. Great. He nodded and obeyed as he walked over to her.

“Eli,” she greeted stiffly when she saw him. Her hair was different from the last time he saw her. Instead of the long brown hair with bangs she wore in the second half of their senior year, now she was wearing long black finger waves down her back. She was dressed in a long, yellow sundress and she was wearing pink gloss and yellow eyeshadow. He hated to admit it but she was a very beautiful girl, if only her personality wasn’t so atrocious.

“Marisol,” he greeted back just as stiffly. He wanted to get this over as fast as possible. He took out his notepad and a black pen. “What can I get you?” He asked her.

“A bacon cheeseburger with cheese fries and a large strawberry milkshake,” she ordered, and he raised an eyebrow at her order. That was definitely not what he was expecting from her. 

“Okay....,” he replied.

“Is there something wrong with that, Goldsworthy?” She asked him with narrowed eyes, daring him to say something negative.

“Not at all, your order won’t take long,” he quickly answered as he walked away from her. There was no need to start a fight right now. In all honesty though, he thought she would want a salad and a glass of water. Isn’t that what vapid cheerleaders and self-absorbed queen bees eat so they wouldn’t gain any “unnecessary calories”? 

He passed the order onto the people working in the kitchen, and went to the milkshake machine for her drink. As he was fixing it, his co-worker Peter Stone waited next to him with a milkshake glass of his own. Peter was a cool guy and was trying to own his own music studio one day. He was in a band with Sav Bhandari and some other Degrassi alumni that sometimes performed at The Dot. Eli would never tell him but he hated Peter’s singing voice.

“That girl over there. I remember her. She went on this date with some jock and ordered everything he did, which included a spicy tuna sandwich with ice cream on top. I thought they were both freaks for that,” Peter remarked to him.

“Sounds disgusting,” Eli replied as the drink filled up.

“Yeah, I think she was just copying everything he said or did to impress him or something.”

“Makes sense. I was in the same graduating class as her and she’s one of the most shallow, desperate girls I ever had the displeasure of knowing.”

Eli brought her milkshake to her and placed it onto the table. She muttered a thanks as she tapped her acrylic nails onto the table. He nodded and just as he was about to leave again, she decided to ask him a question.

“Shouldn’t you be in New York or something?”

“I’m home for summer break,” he answered, blinking.

“Cool. How is it?” She questioned him some more. He was confused as to why she suddenly cared so much.

“New York’s pretty great. It’s full of life, culture, art...,” he told her, and he almost added “not that you would understand” to be petty. Probably the only thing she would like about New York was the shopping.

“I always wanted to go there to shop,” she said, confirming his inner thoughts, “But it seems like there’s a lot of fun things to do there. I regret staying up here for university while everybody else went to these cool places. Toronto is so freaking boring sometimes.”

Well there were no lies there.

“Yeah. I wanted to get as far away from there as possible,” he agreed. He didn’t even hate this city, he just needed a breath of fresh air.

“It gets lonely here without Katie, and I have to wait a few more weeks for her to fly back from California,” Marisol replied. “It sucks.”

“What about Mo?” He questioned, curious as to why she didn’t mention him. He watched in surprise as anger suddenly lit up in her eyes.

“Mo and I broke up months ago,” she answered sharply.

“Wow I’m sorry to hear that,” he apologized, somewhat sheepishly. He was in shock at the statement. Mo and Marisol were one of the most stable, sappy couples at Degrassi. What had happened between graduation and now that caused them to break up? He was confused as to why such a goofy, chill guy like Mo would want to date a bitchy, stuck up girl like Marisol but they seemed genuinely happy.

“Yeah, he claimed that since we were barely communicating and I wasn’t making enough time to talk to him anymore, that it was the best that we broke up and just remained friends. He flew all the way over from Vancouver just to dump me during Thanksgiving,” Marisol explained bitterly, and Eli was disturbed at how similar their break up stories were. “He’s not the only one that has schoolwork. I have university AND a job. I couldn’t just pack it up and fly to freaking Vancouver whenever he felt needy.”

Yeah, this was awkwardly familiar.

“And then I had to find out from Jake that he shacked up with some other bitch like immediately after we broke up. Wow, I guess our entire relationship meant nothing. Bastard.”

He wanted to cringe at this point. He was regretting even entertaining this conversation because now old feelings of hurt from the breakup was coming back.

“If he ever tries to come crawling back to me, he can forget it because there’s no way in hell we are ever getting back together. For once, I thought I found a guy that loved me and he broke up with me as soon as things started getting rough. Fuck him!” She finished ranting, and some other patrons in the restaurant looked at her in fear. Eli was a little scared himself. 

“I feel that,” he could only say in response, sending a pointed look at Clare and K.C., who were both looking at Marisol in surprise. “Breakups are hard and I hope you can move past this.”

“Oh I tried,” she replied with a dark chuckle, “But now I’m at the stage where the only thing that can make me happy is comfort food, which is why I’m here.”

“Well fear not, The Dot serves nothing  _ but _ comfort food. I’ll go check on your food,” he said before walking towards the kitchen. He couldn’t believe he actually had something in common with Marisol Lewis now, and it was struggling with bad breakups of all things. He felt bad for her because he knew exactly how she felt and the anger that came along with it.

He peeked inside to see that Fitz was flipping the burger while another cook prepared the fries. He stepped out just for Spinner to give him another table to wait. For the next fifteen minutes or so, he would serve people while sending glances to Marisol, who looked like she wanted to cry. He felt like a huge scumbag for even bringing up Mo. He hated seeing girls cry, even from the wicked queen bee of Degrassi.

Eventually her order was ready from the kitchen, and he grabbed the basket that had the burger and cheese fries. Surely the smell of hot food would make her feel better. When he delivered her food to her, he did gently.

“Here’s your burger and fries. I hope you enjoy,” he said sympathetically while offering her a soft smile. Literally thirty minutes ago, he was feeling deep annoyance at her presence and now he wanted to hug her and tell her it was going to be alright.

“Thanks,” she replied as she opened up a bottle of ketchup while he left to check on another table. Every so often, he would look back at her to make sure she was alright. She was mowing down on her food with great vigor. He had to admit, he was a little impressed. She was slurping down her milkshake too, and after a few minutes there was not an ounce of it left. Was she secretly a big eater or something?

He came by with the bill when he noticed that she was finished. The basket was completely empty except for some leftover ketchup and cheese sauce.

“Thank you, Eli,” she told him in gratitude, and she most likely was thanking him for letting her vent to him. He could tell that it was building up in her for a while and she needed an opportunity to release it.

“No problem, be sure to come back,” he said before leaving for the final time.

When he came back, there was an extra ten dollar bill in addition to the money she owed for the meal.


	2. Never Dream You’d Leave Me In Summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song title is Never Thought You’d Leave Me In Summer by Stevie Wonder

It’s been a few days since her trip at The Dot, and Marisol still didn’t know how she felt about what happened that day.

When she sat down at her table, she did not expect to have Eli Goldsworthy as her waiter. To be honest, she did not expect to see him again unless it involved Mo or on the red carpet for one of his movies, and after Mo dumped her, the latter option was more likely.

Mo.

It’s been almost eight months since he broke up with her and she was still very bitter and heartbroken over it. She still couldn’t believe it happened when he was so devoted to her, and she was to him. While she was repulsed by him before they got together, after they got together she was sure that she understand what love was. Mo was the first guy to make her feel like she was more than a hot piece of ass, and he was genuinely interested in her as a person beyond sex. 

While she already considered herself a fun person, Mo inspired her to have even fun and he brought out a silly side of her. She fell in love with him because he made feel her so relaxed and happy just by being with him. He was just so caring towards her and he always apologized when he did her wrong, which was rare. He came to her when she was at her most lonely with Katie being in rehab, and her running Power Squad and the student council together, and made her realize that she didn’t have to face everything alone because she had him. He was someone to kiss, someone to hug, and someone to cry to, and he never found her weak for it.

She genuinely thought that they were going to last beyond high school and get married and raise their kids with Katie and Jake’s. That’s how badly she loved him. When he sang their song together at graduation to make up for ruining her prom night, she had never felt so loved in her life. She smiled so hard that day. She thought it was only going to get better from there.

But now Mo was gone, and she only had the memories.

The details of their breakup still had her shaking in anger because she felt it came out of nowhere and happened for bullshit reasons. Just because they weren’t talking every day didn’t mean that she wasn’t thinking about him every day. She was worried about how he was handling university without her and Jake, and she was concerned about his diabetes. She sent him a brand new pair of headphones for his birthday with flowers because she missed that badly. She talked non stop about him to her new university friends because she had an amazing boyfriend and she wanted everybody to know. But it still wasn’t enough.

As Marisol got ready for her work shift at Little Miss Steaks, she thought about her little encounter with Eli the other day. She didn’t mean to nearly have a breakdown at The Dot but she couldn’t help it. Generally, she has been very miserable these days and awfully lonely. With Katie at Stanford and Mo giving her the turkey dump, she only had Jake left and he was too busy with his weed hunts sometimes. Occasionally she spent time with Maya as Katie wanted her to check on her little sister for her but that was it. She had no one to vent to until Eli, and he was the last person she expected to be her shoulder to cry on. She had hated him and he hated her back. But things have apparently changed, and not just his attitude towards her.

Eli’s current appearance was a great shock to her as his hair was no longer dyed black. His natural hair color was a golden brown and his actual hair was very curly. With his soft tan and work uniform, there was no way that you could guess that he was an emo kid in high school. She found it....a little attractive to her disturbance. But she couldn’t lie to herself.

They didn’t like each other in high school and it showed in how they greeted each other when he came to ask for her order. She always found Eli to be a weird, creepy, pretentious prick that thought he was sooooo much smarter than everyone else because he listened to My Chemical Romance instead of Justin Bieber, her especially. And when he crashed his hearse into a wall and wrote that awful play about his ex, she was genuinely scared of him for a while. Then she remembered he was only an inch taller than her.

Eli was always just so cold to her when Mo wasn’t around and it annoyed her greatly. Who did he think he was? Some god? She was expecting Eli to spit in her food or poison it when he saw that it was her that he was serving. But to her surprise, he softened immediately towards her as soon as she started ranting about Mo. She didn’t know what drove her to vent to some guy she hated in high school but she was glad she did. 

It puzzled her how kind Eli was to her after that, but she was grateful enough to leave him a big tip. He probably needed it anyway and she felt he deserved it. For once, he wasn’t looking at her like the biggest idiot, but only someone who needed sympathy. It touched her unexpectedly.

While Marisol put her hair into two little pigtails, she thought about Eli and how maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.

* * *

“Marisol, we have a customer at table forty-five,” Juan told her as she gave him a nod. She walked over to the back of the restaurant where there were booths in corner, and was surprised to see Eli in one of them texting someone on his phone. He was dressed in a black leather jacket, a red t-shirt, and black denim jeans. He also wore a spiked bracelet and that little arrow necklace he practically wore every day in high school. Well, it looked like he wasn’t completely done being an emo kid yet. He just decided to stop dying and straightening his hair. It was a rather interesting combo.

“Hey,” she greeted as he snapped his attention towards her. She didn’t notice how vibrant his green eyes were until now. They were kinda pretty and reminded her of emeralds.

“Marisol, what a coincidence,” he replied, just as surprised as she was. Was this going to be a thing now? Them being each other’s servers at their restaurants?

“What brings you here tonight?” She asked as she pulled out a notepad.

“A pregnant lady vomited all over me so Spinner sent me home early,” he answered with a shrug. She cringed at his statement. 

“Gross,” she replied with a shudder.

“Yeah, after I took a  _ very _ long shower, I decided to come here tonight,” he explained. For some odd reason, she felt some excitement at that. Weird.

“Well can I start you off with anything?” She offered. 

“A Pepsi would be great,” he answered.

“Coming right up!” Marisol replied cheerfully as she walked away to fix his drink. Seeing him just put her in a positive mood for some reason. She figured it was because he was being so nice to her right now. As she poured the Pepsi from the fountain drink machine, K.C. walked up with an empty glass and poured some water. The two of them gave each other awkward nods. Two years ago around this time, her and K.C. were having an intense sexual affair despite him having a family at home. Running around with some other girl’s baby daddy was one of the worst things she had ever done in high school. The embarrassing part was that she thought that K.C. was genuinely going to leave his family for her if she fucked him good enough because he kept telling her so. After Jenna Middleton dumped him and they gave up their baby for adoption, K.C. didn’t even speak to her. So she got the reputation of being the new school slut for nothing. She was a fool.

She was a bit relieved when he left for British Columbia during the spring semester of her senior year, because she no longer had to suffer through him glaring at her behind her back like she forced him to fuck her. When he suddenly came back months ago and told Juan that he would like his job back because he was here to stay, she was apprehensive to say the least. But he was very civil to her these days, they even had some pleasant conversations. She guessed that he decided to move past all of this. Good.

When the glass was completely filled up with Pepsi, she delivered it to Eli who was now reading the menu. “Thanks,” he said as she also passed him a straw. 

“Are you ready to order now?” She asked.

“Yeah, I’ll take a sirloin steak and mashed potatoes,” he answered.

“Excellent choice,” She replied while giving him one of her signature big smiles. She turned to walk away when Eli stopped her.

“Hey, are you alright from the other day? I didn’t mean to make you feel bad over Mo,” he asked her with genuine concern in his eyes. Her smile faltered a little at the mention of her ex.

“It’s fine. I was having a bad day anyway and anything was bound to set me off,” she answered with a flat tone. Nearly every day since Mo dumped her was a bad day but Eli didn’t need to know that.

“Well I’m glad you’re okay. I was a little worried,” he admitted, and once again she was touched by how nice he was being. “I’ve been through a bad breakup recently myself.”

“With Clare?” She asked while raising an eyebrow. There was no way it was her but she was also the only option.

“Yeah she broke up with me in February,” he answered glumly. Her mouth dropped. Eli and Clare were one of the most talked about Degrassi couples, and while a half of it was because of how scandalous they were, the other half was because of how obviously in love they were. No matter how you felt about either of them, it couldn’t be denied that they were more into each other than ninety percent of the other high school couples. Nearly everyone expected them to be high school sweethearts.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized as she felt awful for him. Everyone knew how devoted he was to her.

“It’s been rough for me, especially since she’s moved on with K.C. now,” he added while looking over at K.C. with a deep frown. Her co-worker was carrying two plates of loaded nachos to a pair of Degrassi students on a date. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. K.C. and Clare were back together? When they haven’t dated since freshman year? K.C. didn’t tell her any of this.

“That’s really a shame. You guys were really adorable,” she replied sadly. It was weird how similar this was to her and Mo. Was university really where good relationships go to die?

“She no longer thought so,” he grumbled.

“Well, it probably won’t make the break up sting any less but hopefully your food will make you feel better,” she replied while giving him a sympathetic smile before walking off to give his order to the chef. The stuff Eli had just told her made her head spin. She didn’t know what was crazier, Eli and Clare breaking up for good or K.C. and Clare getting back together. It was all very unbelievable.

When she saw K.C. behind the counter pouring sweet tea into a pitcher, she approached him with her arms folded.

“So you and Saint Edwards are back together, huh?” She asked him coolly. He paused and looked at her puzzled. “Who told you that?” He demanded.

“Eli,” she answered, and K.C. groaned in response.

“God, him. I wish I could avoid Eli, but he’s everywhere these days. He keeps looking at me like he wants to punch my head off,” he complained.

“Well you stole his true love away from him,” she pointed. He snorted.

“I didn’t ‘steal’ Clare, I was just there for her when he wasn’t and she felt that I was the better option. We weren’t even flirting or anything until they broke up, which is an improvement from me,” he explained, “It’s not my fault Eli was slacking when it came to someone he  _ claimed _ he was madly in love with.”

“It’s just surprising that you guys got back together after all of these years,” she replied as she thought back to sophomore year. She remembered when they were dating as niners, and how boring as a couple they looked. She didn’t understand what a cute jock saw in a geeky, virginal girl that seriously dressed in a catholic school uniform for the first couple months of school. But back then, she was dating Owen Milligan so she really didn’t care about snatching K.C. for herself. Then Jenna Middleton, this bubbly and perky new Power Squad member arrived on the team, and it was as if K.C. asked himself what he was doing with Clare. He dumped her for Jenna and that seemed to be the end of them. The next year, Clare was getting caught up in her wild romance with Eli and K.C. knocked Jenna up. For them to reconnect years later seemed out of the blue but it wasn’t her place to say anything.

“Well, we did. And I’m happy for it even if it was the last thing I expected when I came back to Degrassi. I regret how I treated Clare during our first relationship and I’m glad she gave me a second chance. Now if only her ex-boyfriend could move on,” he said while shrugging. She awkwardly nodded before Juan signaled for her to serve an elderly couple in the booth in front of them.

After an half an hour, Eli’s food was ready. As she carried the hot plate of food to him, she noticed that he was talking to someone on the phone.

“No, Imogen I can’t be a mediator for you and Jack tomorrow. Friday is one of our busiest days!........Fine bye,” he said with an annoyed tone of voice as he hung up and put his cellphone back in his pocket. When he saw her, his face brightened up. 

“Here’s your steak and mash potatoes. I hope you enjoy,” she stated cheerfully as she put the plate down and slid it towards him.

“I always do. This place has amazing food,” he complimented.

“Better than The Dot?” She asked.

“Hmm....well nothing beats The Dot’s burgers, pizza, and wings, and our desserts are better,” he answered with a shrug.

“Pfft. As if any of The Dot muffins and cupcakes can beat our chocolate brownie ice cream cake or our chocolate cheesecakes and pies,” she challenged. The Dot pastries were dry as fuck most of the time that’s why she usually only ordered ice cream or the cookies for desserts.

“No, but our giant chocolate marshmallow cookie can,” he pressed. She pursed her lips in response. That actually was her favorite dessert to order at The Dot. It was SO good, too good actually. It was her best friend during the first month after her and Mo’s breakup.

“What’s wrong? Don’t have anything to put up against that? Our ice creams sundaes are also the best. Don’t lie,” he argued with his usual smirk. For once she didn’t find his smirk annoying. It was...cute? 

“Just for that, I should add an extra five dollars to your bill. We do not accept insults from the enemy,” she warned playfully.

“You can add a hundred dollars to my bill and it still doesn’t change the fact that I’m right, Marisol,” he bantered. She rolled her eyes.

“Whatever Emo Boy,” she remarked before leaving. When she looked back, he was still looking at her with a smirk. That was the second time they had a conversation and she didn’t want to slap him. Was something shifting between them? Maybe the cure for ending high school beefs was actually leaving high school. 

These random encounters between her and Eli was changing her perceptions of him rapidly.


	3. It’s Gonna Take A Miracle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning, Eli’s wet dream sequence at the beginning of the chapter is super graphic so if you want to skip that, scroll past the whole thing as it’s in italics.
> 
> Song title is It’s Gonna Take A Miracle by Denice Williams.

_Eli was in a private room at Little Miss Steaks. He didn’t remember what he ordered, only that the food came out extremely cold. Oh, and Marisol was his waitress. When he complained to her, she led him to a private room and left to talk to the manager. He was waiting for her to come back while sitting in a single chair in the middle of the room._

_The door opened and Marisol stepped in and closed the door while locking it. She fixed him a sad smile._

_“I’m sorry about the cold food, Eli,” she apologized._

_“It’s fine. I don’t blame you,” he responded with a shrug._

_“I feel really bad because you were looking for a nice hot meal,” she continued while pouting._

_“Well is there anything you can do to make it up for me?” He asked as he folded his arms. He was thinking of a free meal and a coupon or something as an apology gift._

_What he didn’t expect to see was Marisol smirking seductively as she unbuttoned her vest. “I can think of a few things,” she purred as she unbuttoned her white blouse next, revealing her bare breasts to him. She pulled them both off and dropped them to the ground._

_“Woah,” Eli remarked as he felt his dick stiffen in his pants. He didn’t know what was happening but this was a very welcome surprise. She walked up to him while flashing him a sexy smile. She leaned down and they shared a tender, but deep kiss. Her lips tasted like strawberries on his tongue._

_“This is how you’re gonna make it up to me?” He asked her in a husky voice while pinching one of her nipples, and she released a soft moan in response. He felt up more of her skin and admired how soft it felt underneath his touch. She also smelled amazing._

_“Mmhmm,” Marisol purred as she sank down to her knees in front of him. She unbuckled his jeans and pulled them down. She reached into his boxers and pulled out his shaft. As she started stroking him with her soft hands, he bit his lip in arousal._

_Marisol licked around the tip of his length before taking him into her mouth. She gave him a few deep, wet sucks before pulling back. “I hope this is enough for you, Eli,” she told him with hopeful eyes while kissing up and down his skin._

_“Believe me, this more than makes up for everything,” he reassured her with a smirk. If this was the type of apology he was gonna get for cold food, then he hoped this kept happening every time he went to Little Miss Steaks, and if he found a roach in his food next time he would be delighted. But only if Marisol was his waitress. Because at the moment, she was the only woman he wanted right now. She smiled before taking him deep into her mouth again._

_As she sucked him off, Eli felt himself get very lightheaded......_

* * *

“AHH!” Eli yelled out as he woke up with a startle. It was still night time and thus he could barely see anything in the darkness except for his skull-shaped alarm clock that read 2 a.m. 

His whole body was glistened with sweat, and he felt a very sticky presence in his boxers. He knew exactly what it was. He sighed.

What he had just dreamed about him had him disturbed. He had a wet dream about Marisol fucking Lewis, one of the most obnoxious girls in high school, and it was extremely pornographic at that. In what world would a situation like that even occur at Little Miss Steaks? It was something straight out of a Reality Kings video. He blamed his trip to the restaurant hours ago and his conversation with Marisol for this. He hated how his body betrayed him like this. He should be dreaming about _Clare_ , not Marisol.

Two nice interactions with her and suddenly he was fantasizing about them fucking. It was incredibly weird and he hoped it never happened again.

* * *

It was WAY too early in the morning for her to do this, but she couldn’t stop herself.

 _“Who’s the person I admire the most? My girlfriend, Marisol Lewis. She’s everything you could ever want in a girl. She’s confident, sweet, feisty, hardworking, loyal, and of course very beautiful. She runs this school like it’s her kingdom, and why wouldn’t she when she’s a queen? She motivates me every day to want better for myself, and to work harder towards my future. I don’t know what I’m going to do at university without her and I already miss her,”_ Mo said in the video Eli recorded of them for the video yearbook. After he was done interviewing everyone else, he sent Mo the clip of their interview and Mo sent it to her in return.

Marisol watched with tears in her eyes as they shared a quick, but sweet kiss as the video ended. She couldn’t fathom that Mo said all of these nice things about her only to dump her months later. He was obviously handling university just fine without her. She turned her phone off and went back to drying her wet body off in the bathroom. She had just taken a long milk and honey bath because she thought it would help her start her day off good. Instead, here she was out of the tub and crying to old videos of her and Mo.

When was this ever going to end? She had been through two middle school breakups, four bad breakups with Owen, the rough end of her affair with K.C., and none of them hurt as badly as the one she was dealing with now with Mo. The difference was that she was genuinely in love with Mo compared to the rest and them not being together left a gaping hole in her heart.

But it’s been seven months, and she was eventually going to have to move on. He certainly did. For all she knew, he was probably having morning sex with some other girl right now. It was unfair that he was probably living his best life without her while she had been barely more than an empty husk since he dumped her.

She was probably behaving worse than Katie did when Drew dumped her. Well at least mentally she was. Mo didn’t have any shit here that she could break up or show to the whole school as an embarrassing video. So the only thing she could do was cry, eat unhealthy food, and waste away in her room these days. She was getting sick of it. Something had to change.

Marisol pulled on a pastel pink halter top and a matching pink miniskirt with ruffles. She pulled off her shower cap and fixed her long hair in the mirror. Next she put on a pair of strawberry shaped earrings and her golden “love” necklace. Lastly, she applied her makeup.

At this point, it was fuck Mo. He had broken her heart, but it was time she began putting herself back together. She was gonna prove that she didn’t need him and that it was his loss for dumping the best thing that ever happened to him.

She didn’t know how she was going to do it but she was going to end this depressive episode over her ex-boyfriend.

* * *

When Eli stepped into The Dot for his shift, he saw Spinner interviewing Bianca DeSousa at one of the tables. She looked genuinely interested in the position.

“So, how did you hear about us hiring?” He asked her with an encouraging smile.

“My friend Fitz works here as you already know, and he recommended this place. Says that The Dot is a great place to work at and is always hiring,” she replied.

“THIS PLACE IS A FUCKING HELLHOLE! I FUCKING QUIT!” One of his coworkers, Todd, screamed in rage as he stormed out of the men’s bathroom. Everyone in the restaurant turned to look at the commotion in surprise. “SPINNER MASON IS THE WORST MANAGER THIS PLACE HAS EVER HAD! THAT’S WHY HIS DUMBASS FAILED ENGLISH IN HIGH SCHOOL!” The man continued to shout as he threw his gloves, apron, and mask to the floor. He then spat on his work clothes before leaving the establishment and slamming the door.

It was only 3 p.m.

“Yeah this place is definitely always hiring,” Spinner agreed with a cheerful grin while Bianca smiled uncomfortably in return. The only thing Eli could do was get behind the counter and assume his position for the day. In all honesty, Todd quitting wasn’t really a loss. The guy was really not well anyway and smelled horrible. There were also quite a few times Eli walked in on him snorting cocaine in the bathroom. He didn’t know what made Spinner hire Todd in the first place.

It seemed like his boss went out of his way to hire the most sketchiest people to work at The Dot, and he was included in that.

While Spinner continued interviewing Bianca, the afternoon crowd of Degrassi students rushed into The Dot. Within the next twenty minutes, he was swarmed with serving customers smoothies, milkshakes, pastries, and cupcakes. And it was only going to get worse for the next couple of hours.

Tristan Milligan, who played Jules in his musical “Romeo and Jules”, walked in with a guy he assumed to be his boyfriend by the way they were holding hands. They sat down at a table by the window. Tristan was chatting enthusiastically as he looked at the menu but his boyfriend did not seem interested. He had a bored look in his eyes. He didn’t understand how Tristan did not notice that.

Drew Torres walked in with Mike Dallas, and when Drew saw Bianca he froze. That was another high school couple that when they broke up it was a great shock. They were SUPER scandalous due to Drew cheating on two of his girlfriends with her but they seemed genuinely in love. Adam told him that they even nearly got married in Las Vegas, and remained engaged afterwards. So when Adam and Clare told him that Bianca dumped Drew during Thanksgiving, he was surprised.

Bianca shifted uncomfortably in her seat when she locked eyes with Drew. After her interview with Spinner, she sat down in a booth in the back of the restaurant. He could tell that they haven’t talked in a while. Drew started walking up to her and Eli promptly decided to direct his attentions elsewhere, like the cupcake stand. He could tell that something was about to go down between them and he didn’t feel comfortable watching it.

It seemed every day that some drama happened at The Dot. It seemed like a lightning rod for trouble which was weird for a place that simply served finger food, milkshakes, and pastries. Was it the secret portal to hell or something?

This was going to be an excruciatingly long day.

* * *

“Katie, what do you think about this piece?” Marisol asked her best friend, Katie Matlin, via video chat in the dressing room. She held a black babydoll dress up to her phone so Katie could see it. She was in a Victoria’s Secret.

“It’s sexy but who are you wearing it for?” Her friend asked in confusion. Katie was the first person she called up and cried to after Mo dumped her, and she was the main person who got to hear her whining about the breakup these past seven months, though Marisol wasn’t telling her all of the dark parts. 

“Myself,” Marisol answered proudly. The first part of trying to get her groove back was shopping for some sexy clothes for herself. Shopping in general always made her feel better whenever she was feeling sad.

“That sounds exciting,” Katie remarked in amusement as she bit into a hot pocket. While her classes at Stanford ended a week ago, Katie remained in California due to a three week soccer camp internship she volunteered for. She wouldn’t be back in Toronto until late June at the most. It was hell without her here.

“Hey, sometimes we need a little self-love for ourselves. Plus you can’t deny I would look great in this,” she pointed out as she felt through the fabric. The skirt was sheer while the top was lacy, see-through, with a deep v-shaped neckline and designed with a floral print. With a black thong it would be perfect.

“You would, Mare,” Katie agreed. “I wish I was here to shop with you. It feels like forever before I can see you again.”

“I know,” Marisol replied somberly. “I’m starting to forget what you look like.”

“Shut up, Mare,” Katie ordered before they both started to laugh. They talked for a few more minutes before Marisol ended the call. She then removed her clothes so she could try on the nightie.

She observed herself in the mirror when she was done. The babydoll dress hugged her body perfectly and highlighted her hips, tiny waist, perky breasts, and long, smooth legs. These features drove her boyfriends wild. A part of her that was still shallow wondered how Mo could look at her amazing body and no longer desire it, especially when he touched and caressed it more than any of her other boyfriends and hookups. Marisol pushed back memories of their sexual encounters to the back of her mind. It was hard because Mo was the best guy she ever had in bed, mainly because he actually went above and beyond in pleasuring her more than Owen or K.C. did. When they had sex, it felt like they were actually making love.

Marisol frowned as she realized that she hadn’t had any sort of sexual activity since Mo left in August. So not counting the video chat sex they had, she hadn’t had sex in nearly ten months…..which meant that she had nearly gone a whole year without sex. Were there cobwebs growing on her vagina at this point? She had never gone this long without sex since she lost her virginity. This was actually disturbing.

She didn’t mind the idea of casual sex considering her affair with K.C. and all the times her and Owen hooked up over the summer before their senior year. When Mo dumped her, she pondered hooking up with a few guys just to spite him but she was too heartbroken to go through with it. Now she wished she did.

She twirled around in the nightie. She was definitely going to buy it not only for herself but for the next guy she was going to sleep with because she _needed_ sex. It might help her get over Mo faster.

If she was being honest, she wasn’t used to wearing black. She always found it a dreadful color but she was looking sexy and sophisticated in this nightie. It was time for a new outlook on things.

She wondered what kind of guy would really love this color on her.

* * *

Later that evening, Eli was wiping the counter as Peter put some chairs up on the table in preparation for closing the restaurant. It was an hour until closing and everyone was ready to go home. At this point, hot food was no longer being served. There were only a couple customers in the restaurant left and they were just drinking smoothies together.

The door opened, and Marisol stepped in. After his dream last night, she was the last person he wanted to see right now and especially with her looking so good in the outfit she was wearing. She was dressed in a tight halter top, a short skirt and wedges. Her outfit along with her makeup was in various shades of pink that all popped well against her dark skin. He usually found pink a disgusting color but on her it was beautiful. Too beautiful.

“Hey,” Eli greeted her while Peter let out a whistle. He sent a brief warning glare to his coworker who only gave him a confused look in response. 

“Hey Eli, is it too late for me to come in and order something?” She asked as she looked around the restaurant. While she did, it gave him an opportunity to really gaze at her. The more he looked at Marisol, the more he could understand why Mo was so enamored with her despite her bitchy attitude. She was gorgeous. He rattled off all of her very attractive features in his head quickly. Beautiful smile. Cute dimples. Brown skin that shimmered under the light. Long eyelashes. Dark, captivating brown eyes. Thin waist. Wide hips. Long, slender legs. Petite frame. Round ass. He thought about how her breasts looked in his wet dream; small but very perky and could easily fit into his hands. He felt like a pig for even thinking about her like this but he couldn’t help it.

“No, no, you’re fine. What would you like?” He answered quickly as he gestured for her to sit at the bar. She complied and sat right in front of him, which led to his current racy thoughts increasing. Looking at her up close, he couldn’t stop thinking about what a really beautiful girl she was. It was more noticeable now that she was no longer sneering at him like he was her peasant.

“An Oreo cookie milkshake? Small?” She requested with a smile.

“Coming right up,” Eli answered cheerfully as he went to make the drink for her. He went underneath the counter to grab a giant bag of Oreos, into the freezer to grab vanilla ice cream, and into the fridge to grab some milk. He then put all of the ingredients into a blender and put it under the milkshake machine. As he pushed the button to start making it, he decided to make small talk with her.

“Rather late time to come into The Dot,” he said just as the other customers left money onto their table and left. So it was now just him, Peter, a couple workers in the kitchen, and Marisol. 

“I’m sorry, I’ve been out all day and on the way home I was having some serious cravings for a milkshake,” she apologized sheepishly. “I know how annoying it is when someone comes in just as you’re about to close.”

“Well at least you’re not trying to order some burgers and fries just after we stopped serving hot food,” he replied to her with an amused grin. That was one of his biggest pet peeves and the customers that usually did it were either bar hoppers, clubbers, drunk university kids, or people who had just gotten off their shift. It was super annoying.

“Yeah that pisses me off when it happens,” she agreed. “So I want to thank you for the tip last night. It was very appreciated.”

“Well you left me a big tip on Monday so it’s only appropriate that I return the favor,” he said as the machine stopped. He grabbed the milkshake and handed it to Marisol, who started sipping on it happily. He found it strangely adorable.

“Restaurant workers have to stick together,” she replied with a shrug. “Even if they are from warring businesses,” she added with a playful grin.

“Sometimes you have to join forces with the enemy to achieve a common goal, which is making sure nobody goes home with maybe only two quarters and a nickel in tips,” he remarked while grimacing at the thought. While it was expected of high schoolers to give shitty tips because most of them were broke and lived with their parents, it really got his blood boiling when grown adults did it or gave him no tips at all despite him being on his best behavior. The worst was when someone ordered a really expensive meal and only gave him a dollar or two. 

“No matter what restaurant you work at, we can all agree that customers are the worst,” Marisol said.

“I’ll drink to that…well if I had a drink anyway,” he joked while she giggled. It was too bad that Steven, who used to work with him behind the counter, was no longer here to spike the smoothies with some gin. Then again, that’s why he was fired last week.

While Marisol was drinking her milkshake, Eli was reading text messages from Adam who was complaining about Becky’s family. They were shaming her for turning in her disgusting rapist brother, Luke, and Adam was afraid that they were going to throw her out soon. Eli always hated the Bakers for being typical, bigoted religious conservatives, but he wasn’t expecting them to sink _this_ low into being scum. He genuinely felt bad for Becky. He tried his best to send encouraging words to Adam. Maybe his mom could take her in?

With one final slurp, Marisol was done with her drink. She slid the empty glass to him, and reached into her pocket and pulled out four bucks. She gave him that as well, and he put the money into the cash register and took out fifty cents in change and gave it to her.

“Delicious as always. Thank you,” she complimented sweetly.

“Glad to hear it. The milkshakes are always great when I’m making them,” he boasted as she got out of her seat. She rolled her eyes playfully in response. She walked towards the door to leave, and Eli watched the back of her in interest. He felt like he was in a trance. He stopped when she turned around.

“Tomorrow we have Mexican Night at Little Miss Steaks, I’m off tomorrow but you should come anyway. The loaded nachos are half off and the tequila shots are free,” she offered. His stomach growled at the mere mention of the loaded nachos. The loaded nachos at Little Miss Steaks were better than The Dot’s, he could easily admit that.

“Sounds fun. I’ll be there,” he agreed, and there was a certain light in her eyes over that statement. 

“Great! Good night, Eli,” Marisol replied with a soft smile before opening the door up and exiting the restaurant.

For a few seconds, Eli was still looking at the door. Then Peter stepped in front of him with a bucket and a mop.

“That girl Marisol is single right?” His coworker asked him. 

“Yeah why?” Eli answered him with a question of his own. His tone came out a little more hostile than he was expecting.

“If I were you, I would snatch her up immediately before some other guy does because….. _damn_ ,” Peter advised as he let out another whistle.

“Are you kidding me? In what way are we compatible?” Eli questioned as he tried to bury down whatever attraction he had for her. 

“I know that you were flirting with her the whole time she was here, and she looked _really_ into you, man,” Peter pointed out. 

“That wasn’t flirting,” Eli argued. The other guy looked at him in disbelief.

“ _Really?_ ” Peter asked him with a raised eyebrow. 

“It wasn’t!”

“Well, even if it wasn’t, the way you’ve been eye-fucking her this whole time tells me you’re interested in her anyway,” Peter replied to him with a smirk.

“I’m still trying to get over Clare,” Eli said with narrowed eyes. He tried not to let Peter’s words get to him. Acknowledging that Marisol Lewis was an attractive woman did _not_ mean he wanted to date or fuck her, even if he did have a pornographic dream about her last night. That was just a coincidence.

“And? What better way to get over a bad breakup than with a hot girl? I repeat, if _I_ were you, I would snatch that girl up before someone way smarter than you does. Trust me, girls that hot do not stay single for long,” Peter warned before he began to mop the floor.

Eli shook his head before he started wiping the counter again.

Peter was being ridiculous, there was no way he was going to hook up with Marisol Lewis.

* * *

Marisol sat in front of the mirror at her vanity table, while wiping her makeup off. As she removed her foundation, mascara, eyeshadow, and lip gloss off, she thought about the interaction that happened between her and Eli tonight. Once again, it was a rather pleasant conversation. She didn’t know where this was leading to, was her and Eli about to become friends? Literally before this week, the mere idea was laughable.

When she was done with her makeup, she pulled out a heart shaped airbrush and started brushing her hair. The more she thought about, something also was up with the way Eli was looking at her tonight when he thought she wasn’t looking. She would describe it as him undressing her with his eyes. To her surprise, she wasn’t disgusted by this at all. In fact it was making her stomach flutter.

So even Emo Boy found her attractive. She wouldn’t say she was surprised, she _was_ a very beautiful girl after all. Lots of boys wanted her even at university. But Eli being attracted to her when he used to sneer at her presence was a boost to her ego. Plus she was starting to be attracted to him as well.

Her finding Eli repulsive in high school had nothing to do with finding him physically unappealing. It was his creepy goth aesthetic and pretentious attitude that turned her off, but she knew he wasn’t anywhere near ugly. He was actually really cute. However, he was looking _really_ good these days and she wasn’t going to lie to herself about it, and she was genuinely enjoying the conversations they had.

Could this lead to something between them?


	4. Me and You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song title is Me and You by Tony Toni Toné.

For some reason, she had a really good feeling about today.

“I’ll miss you Mama. Have a safe and fun trip!” Marisol told her mother as they shared a final hug before her mother got into her church member’s car. Her mother was going on a two-week women’s retreat to Wasaga Beach with the ladies of her church, and she would be in the house by herself the whole time. Her brother Devon used to live with them last year but he moved out to live with his girlfriend last summer.

“Thank you, baby! Don’t burn the house down while I’m gone!” Her mother joked before they pulled off. Marisol was going to miss her but she was also looking forward to the alone time. Her mother drove her nuts sometimes, and it was probably because they were too similar. Not only did they look alike but acted alike too.

As Marisol went back inside her house, she pondered what she was going to do the whole time her mother was gone. She could spend time with her father, step-mother, and little sister. Maybe she could call up Devon so they could hang out. Other than work, she had a lot of time to spare. She was definitely planning another shopping spree or two, and it was convenient that she could go and smoke weed with Jake now without lying to her mother about where she was going.

Tonight, she already had plans though. It was Mexican Night at the restaurant and she was planning on going just for the tasty food and good vibes. There was going to be a Mariachi band performing the whole night.

And Eli was gonna be there.

She didn’t know how in such a short time span, she went from rolling her eyes at the mere mention of his name to her stomach fluttering at the thought of him but there was nothing she could do about it. She was beginning to find him really attractive, and not just because of his handsome face. Talking with him brought some lightheartedness into her life she hadn’t felt since Mo left her. Plus it was nice to bond with a fellow restaurant worker over annoying customers.

With Eli on her mind, Marisol was motivated to look extra good tonight.

* * *

His parents were going to be gone for an entire week for some festival that he was completely positive was one for swingers. Bullfrog had described it as some “peace, love, and positivity” event for middle-aged couples but he wasn’t a fucking idiot. His parents were a _very_ unconventional married couple after all, and his father was the child of hippies. He just hoped that someone wouldn’t show up on their doorstep one day and proclaim to be one of his long-lost siblings.

The second his parents drove off in their friend’s car, Eli ran back inside his house and immediately texted for one of his good friends, Jake Martin, to come over with some weed. Nothing helped tone down his stress more than a good hot boxing session. Plus he missed hanging out with Jake, the guy was really cool. Two years ago, Eli hated his guts for dating Clare while they were broken up but he moved past that now.

Within a half and hour, there was a knock on his door. Unsurprisingly, it was Jake, who was holding a pair of roller skates.

“Sup bro,” Jake greeted cheerfully as they clasped hands.

“Jake, the legend,” Eli greeted back enthusiastically as he gestured for Jake to come in. Jake sat down on his couch while Eli went to set up his PS4 so they could play some video games while stoned. He wished Mo was here with them but with the thoughts he's been having about Marisol lately, it was probably for the best that he wasn’t.

He had another intense wet dream about Marisol last night, and this time it took place at The Dot. He came into his shift as usual, only for the place to be empty except for Marisol working in the kitchen wearing nothing but a hair tie and an apron. She explained that he recommended her to Spinner and that she was _really_ grateful that he did that. Her way of thanks was giving him a very sloppy blowjob right then and there. He woke up with some very sticky boxers in return.

There were so many factors he wanted to blame for the wet dream. He blamed the time of night, him having a stressful work day at the Dot, him being sad and lonely, Peter encouraging him to fuck Marisol, and Marisol herself. He was finding himself not only being attracted to her beauty but her personality. It was scary how he no longer found it utterly atrocious in such a short time span. Even scarier was how easy it was talking to her. He was enjoying the banter they had, and he found her comments amusing. What was she doing to him?

While the startup menu for Mortal Kombat X came on the screen, Eli grabbed two PS4 controllers and sat down on the couch with Jake who was lighting up a blunt. After taking a deep puff, he passed it to Eli who took a puff as well. They picked their characters and started playing the game.

Two hours later, Jake was rolling around in his house shirtless while on skates while Eli was numbly replaying the story mode by himself on the hardest difficulty. In his current state of mind, it was a bad idea to say the least. He hasn’t even made past the first boss yet and he’s been trying for at least thirty minutes. It was especially annoying because he felt like such a badass for beating Jake’s ass so many times because he was worse at playing games while high.

Jake was skating in front of him while eating a bag of cheese curls, and it distracted him fast enough for the enemy to kill his character. As the words “Fatality!” flashed on the screen, Eli let out several violent curses.

“Dammit Jake!” He shouted at his friend, who then gasped.

“Sor-rey,” his friend apologized sheepishly but continued sliding casually along his floor.

“Can you take those damn skates off while I’m trying to play this shit? It’s distracting,” Eli demanded.

“Well, I think it’s time for me to go anyway. I have to meet up with Marisol soon,” Jake replied as he stopped rolling. He bent down to untie the laces on his skates, only for him to not actually do it. He rolled over to the couch to sit down with Eli, who then exited out of the game in frustration.

“Marisol?” Eli asked, and he hated how hostile his tone came out.

“Yeah, you know Katie’s best friend and Mo’s girlfr….ex-girlfriend,” Jake answered slowly, quickly correcting himself at the last part. Eli rolled his eyes.

“I know who she is, Jake. I’m asking why you’re hanging out with her.”

“Well she invited me to Mexican Night at Little Miss Steaks, and I can’t pass that up,” Jake answered as he fumbled with the laces on his skates.

“She invited you too?” Eli asked again as jealousy flared up in him. Oh god, he was actually starting to feel jealous at Marisol hanging out with other guys, even if it was Jake.

“Yeah! I can’t wait to eat some supreme nachos,” Jake said as he dramatically kicked off his skates. “Plus Marisol’s been feeling pretty lonely and sad lately, and I don’t like seeing her sad so I’m giving her much needed company.”

“She’s been sad because of Mo,” Eli said, and he almost cracked a smile at how wide Jake’s eyes got at that statement.

“How do you know about that?” His friend questioned in worry.

“We had a conversation about it earlier when she came into The Dot Monday,” Eli explained while folding his arms. “She just straight up vented to me about their breakup.”

“Oh,” Jake replied while blinking. “Well I guess we’re having a three-way friendship date then. Awesome.”

“I didn’t expect you guys to be so close. You were always with Mo and Marisol was always with Katie,” Eli pointed out.

“Me and Mare have had a good thing going for the longest, Eli. I showed Marisol where to get the best weed after the log cabin incident and we’ve been really cool since. She helped me hook me up with Katie, too,” Jake said while shrugging.

“Did you guys ever….do anything?” Eli asked as he looked at Jake in suspicion. The thought of Jake and Marisol really disturbed him.

“What did you mean?”

“Hooking up.”

“No...what’s with all of these questions about Marisol? You into her or something?” Jake questioned him, and Eli immediately got defensive.

“What? No! She was the worst in high school, and I only tolerate her now because she seems like she finally ate some humble pie,” he quickly denied, and hopefully Jake couldn’t see that he was lying. Was he really though? Was admitting that Marisol was a beautiful woman mean that he was into her when it could just mean a simple attraction?

 _“If you’re having wet dreams about her and getting jealous of Jake for spending time with her, yes dumbass,”_ A voice inside his head grumbled.

“Just checking….hey you got any more snacks in the kitchen?” Jake asked. Eli rolled his eyes in response. His friend was really bad with the munchies.

“Sure, we have a big bag of chips in the cabinet,” he answered and cracked a dry smile when Jake smiled goofily while getting off the couch and heading to the kitchen in his socks.

How could he have ever hated Jake when the guy was so unintentionally funny?

* * *

A few hours later, Marisol stepped off the bus in front of Little Miss Steaks. She could hear the loud music of the Mariachi band from outside.

She then walked inside the restaurant. Immediately the smell of Mexican food hit her nostrils, and she inhaled the scent and let out a happy sigh. It smelled good, and was most likely going to taste good as well. Mexican night was always her favorite night at the restaurant.

“Marisol!” Jake greeted her while sitting on one of the seats in the lobby. He was dressed in his usual plaid shirt and jeans.

“Jake!” Marisol greeted back as she went to sit down with him. They shared a brief hug. Jake was the only person she had for the past seven months and she was grateful for his companionship. He was willing to go shopping with her and she was willing to smoke weed with him. Even though she still felt really lonely without Katie or Mo, whenever Jake was available, she was able to not hate her life for a couple of hours. If she never fell for Mo and Jake never fell for Katie, she wondered if they would have been a couple. He was tall, very cute, sweet, and super supportive. 

The front door opened, and Eli walked in with his hands in his jacket pocket. Once again he was wearing a black leather jacket and black denim jeans. Underneath his jacket was a black and white striped shirt and his arrow necklace. Not for the last time, she was a little taken aback by how good he looked.

“Hey guys,” Eli said to her and Jake as he walked up to them. 

“Eli, my man! We meet once again today!” Jake exclaimed happily as he moved over so Eli could sit.

“We do,” Eli replied coolly as his eyes met with hers. He gave her a small smile, and Marisol felt her heart race a little. There was something about the way Eli was looking at her that made her feel things.

One of the hosts gestured for them to follow her to a table, and they all got up and followed her. She led them into a booth where Jake sat on one side, and Marisol sat on the other. Eli awkwardly didn’t know where to sit as the host gave them their menus.

“Why are you still standing there? Are you afraid I’m going to bite you Eli?” Marisol questioned him teasingly, although she was a little unamused that he possibly viewed sitting next to her as a pain. He should know by now that she wasn’t THAT bad.

“No, not at all,” he answered as he sat down next to her in the booth. Suddenly her body was heating up. She didn’t think they were ever this close together. The closest was when she sat in front of him in class and when he sat in front of her at graduation. Oh, there was also that time where they were standing next to each other at Jake’s cabin she guessed. But now they are actually sitting next to each other and it was causing something in her stomach to rise. K.C. came by their table and revealed himself to be their waiter. He was wearing a sombrero instead of the usual cowboy hat.

“Evening cowboys and cowgirls, I’m K.C. as you all probably know. Welcome to Little Miss Steaks, can I start you off with anything to drink? As part of Mexican Night, we’re offering free tequila shots,” K.C. asked politely while taking out a notepad and pen.

“I’ll take a tequila shot and a Pepsi,” Eli answered while reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out his ID. 

“Same,” Jake agreed while doing the same.

“I’ll just take the Texas Sweet Tea,” Marisol said with a tinge of bitterness. Because her nineteenth birthday wasn’t until July, she was not old enough to legally drink yet. She hated it.

“Cool, any appetizers?” K.C. asked as he wrote their drink orders down. They all looked at each other and shook their heads. He shrugged and then left.

“So, how is everyone? What did you guys do today?” Marisol questioned the boys as she tried to make casual conversation. 

“We hung out at Eli’s house for a few hours. Played some games,” Jake answered as he looked at the special menu for tonight. 

“Smoked some pot?” She asked again with a knowing smile. 

“You know it,” Jake replied cheerfully.

“When can I come over to get a puff?” 

“Whenever you can fit it into your schedule, milady.”

“SO, Marisol. How was _your_ day?” Eli cut in and asked her. If the idea wasn’t totally nuts, she would think he almost sounded jealous.

“It was alright. My mom is going on a two week retreat so I have the house to myself for quite a bit. I’m already enjoying it,” she said.

“What a coincidence, my parents are gone for the week too,” he replied as he looked at her in interest.

“Really? I guess it’s leave-your-kids-at-home-week,” Marisol joked.

“Yeah, they’re going to some couples’ festival for their anniversary. It’s going to benefit me more than them,” he said.

“What are your plans for the week?” She asked him.

“Working, sleeping, spending time with Adam, Dave, and Jake here. The sad part is that I have no one to talk about Game of Thrones with now,” he answered with a sad smile.

“You watch that? I’m too turned off by the incest and murder to watch it,” she replied with a frown. She heard about the show having incestous twins, inbred kids, wedding massacres, rape, and far too many topless women for it to be necessary.

He actually looked offended at her comment. “Those are only minor setbacks of an otherwise amazing show. It is a masterwork of television and the books are even better. You ever watch a show and know you’re watching a groundbreaking, historical piece of fiction? That’s Game of Thrones,” Eli proclaimed, and she had to admire the passion in his eyes even if she still wasn’t interested in watching the show.

“I’m still not watching it,” she replied in amusement.

“Well what _do_ you watch then? I’m curious to know what Marisol Lewis finds interesting on TV,” He questioned her while giving her a challenging look.

“Reality TV, cooking shows, soap operas, shopping channels, lifetime movies,” she answered, and he scoffed.

“Typical,” he dryly replied.

“Oh and you, Mr. Emo Boy, being interested in a show with a lot of death and other creepy shit isn’t?” She fired back.

“Fair point,” he replied with a shrug, “But come on, I know there’s more to you than that. What else do you like to watch?”

“Well I also like Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder. Every once in a while, I tune in to watch a little wrestling,” she said. His eyes lit up in surprise at the last part.

“Wrestling?” He asked her.

“The guys are hot,” she answered while throwing up her hands. “And there’s something oddly fascinating about shirtless, sweaty grown men battling each other in skimpy outfits and hitting each other with chairs.”

“Who’s your favorite wrestler then?”

“Well….”

As her and Eli got into a deep conversation, she felt bad for Jake who was just fiddling with his menu awkwardly.

To an outsider, it looked like they were a couple on a date and Jake was their third wheel.

* * *

Eli couldn’t believe how much fun he was having right now.

The restaurant was jam packed but the atmosphere still felt cozy somehow. The music the band was playing was good, and the supreme nachos him, Jake, and Marisol tasted amazing. They came in a basket and were topped with cheese, taco beef, sour cream, chopped tomatoes, onions, black olives, and beans. Oh and the tequila shot he had was so good, he was tempted to have another shot. However, he didn’t need to drive home tipsy and especially in Bullfrog’s car at that. He was sure getting bitched out by his father because he totaled his car was a far worse fate than dying in a tragic car accident.

He felt bad for Marisol when him and Jake toasted to a good day with their shots, and she couldn’t participate. He didn’t know she was younger than either of them and thus couldn’t drink.

“I still can’t believe you guys filmed your movies while stoned,” Marisol said to him and Jake while popping a loaded nacho into her mouth. There was barely any left in the basket and she was responsible for most of the nachos disappearing between the three of them. Once again Eli was blown away by how much the girl could eat.

Eli tried not to let it show how much he was appreciating her appearance tonight. She looked good as always, but there was something about the outfit she was wearing that was really catching his attention. She was wearing a sleeveless white and lacy crop top and a black denim skirt that was showing off her long, toned legs again. He was starting to realize that he liked her in skirts. With her top, he could tell that she wasn’t wearing a bra, which was putting a lot of dirty thoughts in his head. The glittery red lip gloss she was wearing also didn’t help. Red was his second favorite color and seeing it on her lips was an unexpected treat.

“Well my movie came out great, and I thought Eli’s did too but apparently I was the only one that thought that,” Jake said.

“Because it was awful. I can’t believe how such a piece of shit came from me and nearly ruined my opportunity with Bret Barnett,” Eli grumbled. Just thinking about that day made him nauseous out of shame. It was a good thing he produced a **far** better film with Clare. When he was working with Bret, they didn’t even talk about that short film.

“Well what’s it like working with him?” Marisol asked him.

“He’s cool. A little intense while he’s working but we got along pretty well during my internship,” he replied. He was nothing more than a glorified barista half of the time but he got to see an insight of film production and that’s all that mattered. Bret even told him that he was willing to let him be a production assistant again in the future when he was ready.

“Has he ever talked about me?”

“Yeah, maybe once or twice. He’s still enamored with that movie about lipstick you made,” he said. He still didn’t understand what was so great about her short film other than the cinematography.

“It was about lip _gloss_ , Emo Boy,” she reminded him while rolling her eyes.

“Is there really a difference?” He asked wryly.

“Yes!” She answered, aghast that he would even ask such a thing. “Lipstick has a more solid look and a heavier application while lip gloss has a sheer finish and a lighter application. For someone who wore a lot of eyeliner, I’m surprised you can’t appreciate the difference,” she explained while huffing dramatically.

“Keyword is **eyeliner** . I only wore **eyeliner** , Princess,” Eli corrected her. “Despite what you may think, not all goths liked walking around with pasty white makeup and black lipstick like Marilyn Manson.”

“Maybe it’s for the best. You with white foundation would have been really scary,” Marisol remarked.

“Oh, and I wasn’t already scary to you, Marisol? I recalled you turning the other direction ever time I drove Morty remotely near you in high school,” Eli asked with a raised eyebrow. He was pretty positive that Marisol was the one who spread the rumor that he was obsessed with death around the school.

“You were a little scary yes, but then I realized that you were so tiny even I could beat your ass,” Marisol answered with a smirk as she popped one last nacho in her mouth.

“Oh really? I may be short, but I can pack one hell of a punch. Ask Dallas about that,” he challenged. After Fitz beat his ass in that parking lot early junior year, that motivated him to start working out and it paid off nicely.

“I may not punch well, but I can still kick that smirk right off your face,” she argued, but in a light hearted way.

“Wow, you guys seem to be really enjoying this date huh?” Jake asked them both in a dry tone. He then sipped on his blueberry margarita in a rather shady way.

“This is not a date!” Him and Marisol shouted at the same time. They then shared an awkward look before turning away from each other

Jake just blinked in response, which was an indicator that he thought they were bullshitting. “Cool,” he replied flatly. He looked over to where K.C. was chatting with a waiter and whistled for him to come over. K.C. immediately walked over to them. 

“Yeah?” Their waiter asked.

“Bill please,” Jake answered before taking a deep sip of his drink. The guy nodded before walking off. “So, Marisol, you drove here in your car right?” Jake asked her.

“No actually, I took the bus but it’s getting really late and I’m regretting it now,” she answered somewhat nervously. Eli checked his watch. It read 9 p.m. Yeah he didn’t know what she was thinking taking the bus here.

Jake opened his mouth but before he could say anything, Eli beat him to it.

“You need a ride home?” He offered her.

“Yeah, that would be nice actually,” she eagerly accepted, and he had a real good feeling about this for some reason.

Jake was looking at them with curiosity, and there was a glint in his eyes that made Eli feel like he knew something they didn’t.

* * *

Jake Martin pulled into a parking spot in front of his house. Today was a really long and _interesting_ day. A day that he probably shouldn’t tell certain people the complete details of.

As he stepped out of the car, he thought about how really fucking weird Eli and Marisol were acting at dinner. Their banter was heavily bordering on flirting and eerily reminded him of himself and Katie.

Katie Matlin.

God, he missed her _so_ much it was starting to drive him insane. When Marisol told him that she was currently single and coming home in three weeks, he couldn’t believe how badly his heart started racing. They haven’t talked in awhile and he felt bad over it. He thought he would have gotten over her but he didn’t. He was still in love with Katie.

Jake opened the front door with his keys and entered his house, where Clare was sitting primly on the couch and watching TV. He had a strong feeling that she was waiting for K.C. to come over after his shift, and he knew what kind of activities they were going to do downstairs. It was going to be one of _those_ nights. It was time to plug in his earphones and get high to drown out the noise.

Was he comfortable at the idea of his step-sister having sex with her boyfriend? No. Did he have any right to act like the overprotective big brother when he used to date and nearly had sex with said stepsister? Also no. So he was just gonna mind his business.

“Hey Jake. How was dinner with Eli and Marisol?” Clare asked him.

He didn’t know whether he said the next words because the tequila shot and the tall, blueberry margarita glass was getting to his head or he just felt like being blunt tonight.

“I think they’re about to fuck,” he answered casually as he walked up the steps. 

He didn’t look to see Clare’s reaction but he knew her eyes were wide as saucers right now.

* * *

Eli walked Marisol up to the front door of her house. He had to admit from the outside it looked like a pretty beautiful house in a very nice neighborhood. 

During the whole car ride to her home, they were chatting animatedly about pretty much everything. Eli was enjoying the banter they had going on at this point. He was enjoying a lot about her in general. He was starting to regret not getting to know her well in high school. She was more than just a very beautiful but bitchy cheerleader. Marisol was funny, interesting, and a lot more introspective than he thought. She was also pretty fun to tease.

With all of this in mind, Eli was having some very interesting thoughts about Marisol Lewis that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to keep to himself or not.

* * *

As she got up to the front door, Marisol pulled out her keys and turned it inside. She opened up the door and was greeted with the sight of an empty but clean living room.

“Thank you, Eli. Good night,” she told him in gratitude with a smile. Inside, she really didn’t want him to leave but what were they going to do if he didn’t?

“Night. See you later,” he replied while giving her a quick wave goodbye. He turned around and started walking down the steps. Marisol walked inside and shut her door quietly. She stood there and looked at the door with a heavy feeling in her stomach.

She was about to walk upstairs to her bedroom, when she heard a knock on the door. She looked inside her peephole and saw that it was Eli.

Marisol opened the door immediately and stepped aside to let him in the house. He entered and wordlessly closed and locked the door, all while staring intensely into her eyes.

Then he grabbed her and slammed his lips onto hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is going to be very...intense.


	5. Starships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So....nearly this whole chapter is extended NSFW and if you’re not in to that, keep scrolling from the very beginning of the chapter until you see the sentence “Hours into the night, Eli woke up”. Be warned though, this fic is going to be smut heavy from now on 😶.
> 
> Song title is Starships by Michael Henderson.

Neither of them could believe this was actually happening, but they were too lost in the moment to care.

Marisol let out a sound of surprise as Eli ran his tongue over her lips before pulling away, giving her a look that she had only seen him give to Clare Edwards. That meant he actually wanted this.

“This isn’t right,” she whispered softly against his lips. But she didn’t really believe it, and neither did Eli.

“It isn’t?” He asked with a smirk before kissing her deeply again, and this time she responded eagerly as she opened her mouth to give him full access. He rolled his tongue over hers while grabbing her hips and pulling her closer to him. A fire was erupting in both of them as they kissed. If he knew that Marisol’s lips were going to taste this good, he would have kissed her sooner. He normally didn’t like sweet things, but the taste of cherry lip gloss on his tongue was a sensational feeling that he wasn’t expecting. He wondered how her lips between her legs tasted. He was going to find out tonight.

For Marisol, she didn’t expect Eli to be such an amazing kisser. She thought Mo kissed her with a deep passion compared to no one else but Eli was quickly setting a new standard. It felt like he was knocking the wind out of her. His lips were so soft against her own, and she felt like she was on air. She could see why Clare Edwards kept taking him back. With his tongue, he was exploring her in a way that made her want to see what else he could do with it. But first, she wanted to do something else.

Marisol pulled away from Eli and gave him as a sexy smile as she got down on her knees in front of him. “Woah,” he commented in shock as she unbuckled his jeans. “You don’t have to do that,” he added but he didn’t want her to stop. He was just surprised that this was the first thing she wanted to do.

“I really want to though,” she purred as she pulled his jeans down. She wasn’t surprised to see that he had skull printed, black boxers. She felt the material, which was silk. For some reason it was fitting for him. “Do you not want this?” She asked him as she grabbed his waist band.

“No, by all means, please,” he allowed with another smirk. He’s been dreaming about this moment for two nights in a row, and at this point for this to actually happen. When Marisol pulled down his boxers, her eyes widened in shock. 

“Wow,” Marisol said as she took in the sight in front of her. Eli was possibly the shortest guy in their graduating class, and she was expecting that to translate to the thing in his pants as well.

What she did NOT expect was him having a big dick. 

“.....Not what you were expecting, huh?” Eli asked in amusement. Julia, Clare, and even Lenore all reacted the same way. He couldn’t even be offended at this point but only thankful that his height didn’t translate to his dick size.

“How?” She asked, still not believing it but was feeling very aroused just looking at it. Not only was it big, but it was actually pretty to look at.

“Big hands, big feet, the rest of me had to go somewhere,” he answered with a shrug, “What are you scared you can’t take me or something?” He gave her a challenging smirk.

Marisol answered by casually sliding her lips over his cock until all of him was in her mouth, and then she pulled back with a wet pop. “Trust me baby, I can take all of you,” she told him with a lustful gleam in her eyes. She grabbed him and gave him slow, wet licks up his length while staring seductively into his eyes. He felt so heavy on her tongue, she loved it. She spat on the tip of his dick before slowly taking him in her mouth. 

“Fuck,” Eli swore as Marisol began to sloppily suck him, and it didn’t take long for him to harden in her mouth. She stroked him with one hand while kneading his balls with the other, and he was already feeling his knees grow weak by how good it felt. Her mouth felt like hot velvet around his cock. He ran his fingers through her hair as his breathing became staggered. He threw his head back in bliss and shut his eyes. She was too perfect at this. He let several moans in quick succession.

Marisol sucked in her cheeks to take him deeper in her mouth, and she moaned when she felt him hit the back of her throat. She could feel herself getting damp in her panties. She enjoyed giving head, especially when the guy couldn’t stop moaning for her. The fact that even Eli, the scary emo kid, was reduced to moaning and whimpering for her to not stop made her feel powerful. She bobbed her head on his length back and forth at a faster pace.

With the way, Marisol was working him to his limits, he was not going to last long. Not only was she deepthroating him, but she was also sending vibrations through him because of how she was humming while sucking him. “I’m...I’m... going to cum. Stop….please,” he begged. As much as he wanted to finish, he was not willing to wait for a cool down period before he could actually have sex with her.

She immediately did, and slowly pulled her lips off of him. She pouted when she looked up at him. “But I was having so much fun, Eli,” she whined.

“Well now you’re about to have even more fun,” Eli growled before yanking her up to her feet and slamming his lips onto hers. He could taste his pre-cum on her lips as they shared another sensual kiss. Since she made him feel so good, it was only right he did the same for her. He reached inside her panties and rubbed her clit. She was surprisingly already wet. Marisol sighed in pleasure and leaned into him.

Eli pulled his fingers out of her panties and put them into his mouth, sucking her juices off of them. Yup, she tasted good. Now he really needed to go down on her. 

“My room, now,” she ordered as he pulled back up his jeans temporarily. She was not comfortable at all fucking on the couch where her family sits on every day. She grabbed his hand and led him upstairs. Her bedroom door was already open.

Eli tried not to visibly cringe at the sight of her super girly bedroom. There was pink everywhere, shirtless R&B singers on the walls, and stuffed animals all over the place. It was the complete antithesis to his own room and it almost killed the desire he had for her at the moment. Almost being the key word.

Marisol started removing her clothes in front of him while he watched her in desire. They dropped to the floor in front of him in a pile, and she stepped out of it wearing only her sandals. She then kicked off her shoes. Her breasts looked exactly like how he pictured them in his mind.

“You like?” She purred as she twirled herself around for him. She took great pride in her body. She knew she was perfect.

“Definitely,” Eli answered as he pulled her into another kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck while leading them to her bed. One thing he hated about being short was that he couldn’t just pick her up and carry her to the bed. She was barely shorter than him.

They were still kissing as they fell onto the bed with him on top of her. Eli directed his attention to kissing her neck and collarbone. He loved how soft her skin felt under his lips. She gently fingered his soft curls in response. His hair was so light it felt like a feather underneath her touch.

Eli squeezed her breast, which earned a moan from her. He then started licking around her nipple in circles. With his other hand, he reached back into her panties and rubbed her clit with his thumb.

“Eli....,” Marisol moaned out softly as he played with her body. She bucked underneath him. She bit her bottom lip in pleasure as he started sucking tenderly on her nipple. Already her stomach was tightening and she was only getting wetter with every minute. She couldn’t help it as he was touching her at her most sensitive areas.

When she hardened, he released her nipple with a wet pop and took the other nipple into his mouth and began to suck more vigorously. Her moans began to turn into cries, and he couldn’t be more pleased with himself. If she was this loud while he was only sucking on her breasts, he couldn’t imagine how loud she was going to be when he was inside of her. She wouldn’t stop bucking underneath him as well. This was shaping up to be an amazing night and it was only about to get better.

Eli released her other nipple and slowly pulled off her panties. She lifted her legs up to help him. He threw her panties to the floor.

Now she was completely naked underneath him. “You’re beautiful,” he commented in awe as she gave him a prideful smirk. “I know,” she replied.

“Could you be anymore smug?” He asked dryly.

“Absolutely!” She answered with a wink. “Now get between my legs!”

“Okay princess, patience!” He scolded with a playful eye roll as she giggled. He placed wet kisses on her skin as he traveled down her body. When he got down to her folds, he blew at her exposed clit. She let out a pleased shudder.

“An emo kid has you this wet?” He teased as he slipped a finger into her very, very wet folds. Not only was her folds soaking, but also her inner thighs. Very shocking behavior from a girl that use to look down on him for being one of those “freaky and creepy emo boys”. The scent of her arousal was also very strong, he could smell as he traveled down her body.

“I get this wet very easily,” Marisol argued. Owen, K.C., Mo, all of them told her that it was one of the best parts of having sex with her. But she had to admit even she was surprised that Eli was doing this to her.

“Or maybe you’ve been wanting to fuck me in secret for the longest time,” he replied with a smirk, “Don’t be ashamed to admit it, princess. I’ve been told I’m an attractive guy.”

“Go to hell,” she replied while rolling her eyes. Okay, she wasn’t blind. Eli Goldsworthy was a pretty hot guy, but she didn’t admit that to no one but herself in high school because she was afraid it would affect how people looked at her. Even after dating Mo and becoming a lot less shallow, she still wasn’t down to admit it because Eli was so different than her aesthetically. She let out a cry when Eli licked up her folds.

“See, I licked you one time and you’re already crying out. You really want me, do you? He asked with a smirk before thrusting his tongue inside of her. “Fuck!” Marisol cried out as she arched her hips and gripped her breast. Eli wanted to smirk so bad as he explored her pussy. He had the queen bee of Degrassi naked and crying for him. This was definitely going to inflate his ego a little. He pulled back and lifted up her hood, exposing her swollen clit. He spat on it before tracing circling it with his tongue. Marisol tugged one of his curls roughly in response.

When he sucked on her pearl, her cries converted into screams and he felt bad for her neighbors. However, he couldn’t find it in him to tell her to stop screaming. He was too busy focusing on pushing her to her absolute limit like she did while blowing him. From now staggered her breathing was becoming, he could tell that she was close. He looked up into her beautiful brown eyes while she looked down at him with a whimper. He slid two of his fingers inside of her once more to help her reach that limit even faster. He pumped with great vigor.

Marisol’s vision crackled as she came, and she felt a deep burst in her stomach. She let out one final scream as her juices flooded Eli’s mouth and he lapped up every bit of her. But he wasn’t done. He continued to eat her out until a second wave came. When it was over, she wouldn’t stop panting. Her mind was in a deep haze, but she knew what was coming next. They both did.

“Do you have condoms, Marisol?” Eli asked her as he parted from her lower lips. 

“In the..tuh...tuh..top drawer right by the bed,” she directed as she tried to get her breathing under control. In a few minutes it was about to be a useless attempt anyway but she wanted to at least speak coherently again for a seconds. Eli hopped off her bed and complied with her directions. She had bought a big box of condoms for when Mo came back for Fall Break but after he dumped her, she was sure it was collecting dust. She hoped the expiration date hadn’t passed yet.

She watched as Eli pulled out a condom from the drawer and placed it on the bed. He then started stripping in front of her. Marisol looked on in lust as more of his bare form was being exposed to her. She remembered him as being some bony shrimp compared to the jocks but he had clearly been working out since then. When he was done stripping, she licked her lips in desire at the sight of him. With his golden brown hair, green eyes, full lips, strong jawline, and toned arms, Eli Goldsworthy was quite sexy. It was no wonder Clare Edwards and Imogen Moreno were crazy over him. If she gave him a chance, she would have too. And now she was about to give herself to him.

He gently pushed her down on the bed and positioned himself between her legs. Marisol opened her legs wide for him with a seductive smile. He was actually going to do this. 

“Eli....,” Marisol moaned as he slowly pushed himself inside of her. She was so wet from their foreplay that she felt no discomfort at all from him despite not having sex for months. “So big,” she murmured when he was fully inside of her. He felt so good. She let out a series of soft whimpers as he began to thrust in and out of her. She rolled her hips to match his thrusts. Her bed squeaked underneath them.

Eli grunted as he moved in and out of Marisol. For some reason, she felt completely perfect. When he entered her, something in his mind just....clicked. Maybe it was due to how wet she was, or how she was able to easily take every inch of him inside her pussy with no problem just like her mouth. Whatever it was, it was causing him to moan in her ear as they fucked. He bit down on her neck as he hit her with slow, but deep strokes. As a result, she was raking her french nails down on his back while screaming in pleasure. Yeah, he was positive the whole neighborhood could hear them right now but he didn’t care.

“Don’t stop, don’t stop, oh God don’t stop!” Marisol cried out as she gripped his firm ass. “Faster!” She pleaded, and he increased his pace quickly. Her mind was increasingly becoming more scrambled and the entire lower region of her body felt like it was on fire in a good way. Eli paused for a moment to lift her legs up. He then got into a kneeling position and gave her a devilish smirk before slamming in and out of her deeply. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head before she shut them tightly. “Right there!” She cried out as he hit her sweet spot. She reached down and rubbed her clit, which only increased the intense pleasure she was feeling at the moment.

He was panting. He was sweating. He could feel himself on the brink of orgasming. “Marisol,” he growled out as his thrusts became more erratic but no less deep. The beauty underneath him was driving him wild, and her screams was ringing in his ears, but in a good way. It was sexy. He didn’t want this moment to stop, but he knew it was coming. He could feel her walls clamp down around his cock.

Marisol cried out his name one final time before squirting onto him and Eli let out a primal roar before spilling into his condom. He gave Marisol a few more hard thrusts before slowly pulling out of her. A wave of exhaustion crashed over him as he rolled over to her side. Both of them took several minutes to breathe.

“Woah,” she said, blinking her eyes in shock at what happened.

“Woah,” he repeated, as slowly he was beginning to have coherent thoughts again.

For some reason, they both started to laugh.

* * *

Hours later into the night, Eli woke up.

Marisol was snoring loudly while snuggling a toy bunny to her chest. He had his arm draped over her body as they cuddled together in their sleep. The realization of what he had done finally hit him like a truck.

He had fucked Marisol Lewis, who was a person he disliked and barely tolerated in high school. He let a shallow, ditzy former head cheerleader blow him and then he ate her out in return. Then he fucked her.

But it wasn’t just that because that wasn’t even the worst part.

No, it was also her being Mo’s girlfriend. He just spent a good half an hour having the some of the most intense sex of his life with one of his friend’s ex girlfriends. How could he even look Mo in his face after this? Before they broke up, he was positive that Mo was super in love with Marisol just like he used to be with Clare. He sang a song for her at their graduation after all. And he fucked Marisol without a single thought anyway.

The worst part of it?

He wanted to keep sleeping with her.

* * *

Marisol woke up feeling very light-headed but amazing in the morning.

Lifting Eli’s arm off her body, she crawled out of her bed. She looked down on him while he continued to sleep peacefully. He looked sexy even with wild bed hair. She tempted to wake him up with a blowjob but right now she was hungry for some actual food.

She made her way downstairs into the kitchen. She then opened the refrigerator and pulled out bacon, an egg cartoon, and a gallon of cranberry juice in turn. She then reached up into one of the cabinets and pulled out a pack of bread. 

As Marisol started preparing breakfast, scenes of what went down last night between her and Eli replayed in her mind.

She had slept with Eli and didn’t regret a single moment of it. In fact, she wanted more of him. If she had known that he would be this great of a lover, she would have pursued him instead of Drew or K.C. in high school. Honestly, she might have even signed up for that catastrophic Love Roulette play just to get close to him. Hell, she might have been willing to let him blow her back out in his old hearse if they hooked up before that.

Okay, no. She would never fuck in a funeral car no matter how fine the guy was.

She didn’t hear Eli come down the steps, so when he suddenly popped up in her kitchen, she jumped a little and almost dropped her eggs.

“Morning, what are we making for breakfast?” Eli greeted as he walked up to her. He was shirtless and only wearing his black jeans from last night.

“We?” She asked while raising an eyebrow. She went to check on the bacon sizzling in the pan. She then flipped her four pieces over.

“Yeah, I wanna help. Is that okay?” he offered.

“I guess you could put the bread in the toaster for me and then you make whatever you want for yourself,” she accepted. 

“Cool,” he replied before complying. They made breakfast together silently for the most part except when she told him where certain items were placed.

In the end, they had cooked eggs, bacon, toast, and waffles. Eli had also brewed coffee for himself. This was so...domestic and Marisol didn’t mind at all. She had never a moment like this with Mo.

“So….about last night….,” Eli trailed off before eating a piece of his waffle.

“Yeah, we fucked,” Marisol finished for him while sipping her juice.

“Is that it? That’s the only thing you can say about it?” He asked her.

“Well, I wasn’t expecting for us to sleep together but it was certainly wonderful. I enjoyed it,” she answered coolly, as she didn’t know what was going to happen from here and she didn’t want to appear vulnerable. She was vulnerable when she was sleeping with K.C. to the point where she was telling him her whole life story as a way to push him to leave Jenna. That could never happen again. If Eli didn’t want this to be more than a one night stand, she wasn’t going to get her feelings hurt.

“I enjoyed it too, but I don’t usually do hookups, Marisol,” he told her. “They’re not my kind of thing.”

“So what does that mean?” She questioned. There was something about his tone that was asking for her to get her hopes up.

“It means I would like to take you out on a date. Because I like you and I know this might start dumb after we literally had sex but I want to get to know you more,” he offered, and she was surprised at the hope in his eyes. He actually wanted more out of this? He actually liked her?

“I could put my shirt on, walk out of this house, and we can pretend last night never happened. Or, we can continue sleeping together with no strings attached until one of us gets tired one day and ends this whole thing, and we pretend it never happened. Or we can genuinely try at an actual relationship. I don’t know how this is happening so quickly, but I do know that I’m finding out more things that I like about you every day and I don’t want this to be just a one-night stand or a friends-with-benefits kind of thing. But it’s your choice,” he added, and she had to think over what her decision was going to be.

In all honesty, she was still heartbroken over Mo a lot, and due to him being her first love that was probably never going to change for a while. And sleeping with one of his friends, and Eli at that, made her wonder if she was moving on from him too quickly.

But on the other hand, it was time for her to move on anyway and she didn’t really think of Mo while she and Eli were having sex. Maybe it was because Eli was so good at fucking, or maybe because her heart was actually starting to move on.

Regardless, a cute guy that was great in bed and who she was connecting with was asking her out on a date. 

So her mind was already made up.

“What do you have in mind?” Marisol asked him with a flirty smile, and Eli smirked at her in response.


	6. Real Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While there is some spicy stuff at the beginning, it’s nothing too graphic. However there is smut at the very end of the chapter that starts with “That’s it. Ride my dick” so uh if you don’t want to read that....pretty much stop reading before you see that line.
> 
> Song title is Real Love by Skyy.

So Eli actually didn’t know where to take Marisol out on a date at first. Fortunately he had enough time to think about it while they showered together after breakfast. While it was hard to think while he was fucking her up against the wall, he did manage to think of something.

“Bowling?” Marisol asked incredulously as she wrapped a pink towel around her wet body. She then pulled her shower cap off and shook her hair out. Eli could already feel himself getting hard just looking at her. Once again, the sex they had was pretty mind blowing and had him wanting to do it again. Something about having sex with Marisol just felt…..right. She felt perfect around him.

“Yeah, bowling at the Dave & Busters in Oakville. It’ll be fun!” He explained. Oakville was thirty minutes away but that wasn’t really far with a car. “We can bowl, fuck around at the arcade, and then eat dinner. And I’ll pay for everything, you just have to look sexy,” he added with a smirk.

“Sounds like the kind of dates I usually enjoy,” she agreed before casually dropping her towel in front of him, leaving her naked again. This prompted Eli to throw his own towel off and get behind her while she went inside her drawers to pick out her clothes for today. She was going to have to delay that for a bit.

“Eli….,” she trailed off and he could see her amused smile from behind.

“Yeah?” He asked, playing innocent. Then he started rubbing something against her rear.

“Your dick is on my ass,” she replied.

“Really? Didn’t notice that,” he said while continuing to rub it against her ass.

“We just showered,” she pointed out. She then jumped when he slapped his dick on her ass. He didn’t know why he was getting such a kick out of this but he was.

“What does that have to do with me?” He demanded.

“You’re a creep.”

“A creep that you spread your legs wide open for last night.”

“Only because I was distracted,” Marisol argued as she turned around to face him. She then folded her arms.

“Yeah distracted by me fucking the shit out of you,” he pointed out with a mischievous smirk, “Tell me, Princess, was the way you were screaming while I was eating your pussy the loudest you ever got during sex? Or when I was thrusting inside of you? I wonder.”

“If I say no, what are you going to do about it?” She challenged, and that was the answer he needed.

“I’m going to rectify it. We don’t have to leave right now, and what  _ I  _ want to do right now is find out what position makes Marisol Lewis scream the loudest,” he growled before grabbing her face and giving her a rough kiss.

She moaned in his mouth in response.

* * *

_ “Hi! This is Marisol Lewis! If you have reached this message, that means I am currently unavailable but I will call you back as soon as I can!.......but if you’re Mo Mashkour, don’t get your hopes up,”  _ Marisol’s cheerful voice said in the voicemail message, but it was not what Katie Matlin needed to hear right now .

This was the third time her call went into voicemail, and Katie couldn’t help but get worried. She shouldn’t be so worried, but she couldn’t help it considering how bad Marisol was spiraling these days because of her breakup with Mo.

Her best friend did not take Mo leaving her well at all, and Katie herself was very puzzled as to why Mo dumped her when he was so devoted to Marisol in high school. She had never seen a more happier couple, and she was sure they were going to last especially after Mo sang to Mare at graduation. But one night in October, Mare had called her up crying about him dumping her, and that was the end of their relationship.

Her best friend was not giving her the full details but Katie knew that the breakup had destroyed Mare at a level none of her breakups with Owen did. She knew Mare was deeply in love with Mo, and thought the whole world of him. He helped her grow to be a less shallow person and was there for her when she needed it. Katie didn’t think Marisol smiled as brightly with a guy as she did with Mo. Her friend finally had a real connection and Katie was happy for her, so she felt awful for Mare when they didn’t last.

It pained her that she couldn’t be there for Mare in person like Mare was during her breakups with Drew and Jake. Majority of the time, it seemed like Mare was the only comforter in their friendship and whenever it was time for her to rise up to the occasion, she flopped like a dead fish every time. This had to change. They were both out of high school and adults.

Taking a deep breath, Katie dialed Marisol’s number one last time. If her best friend didn’t pick up, she was going to have some words for her but only out of worry.

After the third ring, Marisol finally picked up the phone. She sounded like she was panting.

“Hello? Mare?” Katie asked in concern.

“K-K-Katie! Hey babe!” Marisol greeted her with an unusually high-pitched voice.

“Are you okay? You sound like you can barely breathe,” Katie pointed out.

“I’m fine! I just went for a morning jog around the neighborhood to get some good exercise in!” Marisol explained, and for some reason Katie didn’t believe that. Her best friend was always a shitty liar; It’s been like that since they were little girls.

“Yeah? That’s good. How have you been holding up lately?”

“I’ve been feeling gr-gre-gre-”

A loud smack was heard on the other end.

“Stop!” She heard Marisol squeal out. 

“Who is that, Mare?” Katie demanded.

“Um….some kid just bumped into me with a skateboard,” Marisol quickly answered.

“What? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it was just a bump. Nothing bad! Anyway Katie I love you but I gotta go-OH!” 

Marisol quickly ended the phone call, and Katie sat silently in confusion afterwards.

_ “What the hell was that?’ _ She thought to herself in suspicion. The first thing she was going to do when she got back to Toronto next month was confront her best friend about this.

* * *

Three hours, three more consecutive sex sessions, three orgasms, and another shower later, they were heading out to Oakville for their date at Dave & Busters. Marisol looked out the window to appreciate the scenery while Eli drove. He helped pick out her outfit for today which was a red tube top, black high waisted shorts, and lacy black panties. She didn’t usually go for red and black but he insisted. He also had her wearing cherry-flavored lip gloss and cherry-shaped earrings that dangled from her ear. Pretty much the only thing he didn’t pick out for her was her love necklace and her sunglasses.

Marisol was pretty positive that she was going to wake up with a hoarse voice tomorrow after what she and Eli were getting up to this morning. She had no regrets so far, other than the guilt she felt after hanging up on Katie earlier. She didn’t know when she was going to tell her BFF about Eli but it had to be soon. However, Katie calling her while Eli was blowing her back out right at that moment would have been a terrible time to reveal it.

Eli was able to find out pretty fast that doggystyle was her favorite sex position and took great pleasure in fucking her like that until she was screaming her brains out. She was surprised that she was able to walk right now but she also felt so good right now.

“So I’m assuming that telling our friends about us is off the table right now,” Eli suddenly spoke up after not saying anything nearly the whole car ride.

“Well Katie can keep a secret, and Jake too for the most part, but I’m not sure if Jake can actually keep this from Mo and that’s the problem,” Marisol replied. She wondered if she should actually care about how her ex-boyfriend would react to them hooking up. Mo threw away eleven months of dating and left her crying alone in her living room because of some communication errors, and then rebounded immediately after. With that, she was entitled to some dick as a single woman even if it was with one of his friends, but again she couldn’t just poof away her attraction to Eli. Her feelings for him just happened and in all honesty, Eli wasn’t one of Mo’s best buds. He was lucky it wasn’t Jake she was fucking.

“Would Mo seriously be pissed at me if he finds out?” Eli asked her.

“I don’t know,” she answered.

“Well I do need to know this because Mo’s a big guy. With one punch he could probably decapitate me, and I have too much to live for right now,” Eli pointed out as the entertainment facility came into view. He pulled into a parking spot in front of the place, and Marisol unbuckled herself as he turned the car off.

“Mo’s a teddy bear, Eli. I don’t think he ever physically fought someone,” she replied as they got out of his parents’ car. “Plus, I would never allow it.”

“Hopefully you’re right,” he said while wrapping his arm around her shoulder. Marisol felt her body get warm in his embrace. She flashed him a sweet smile as they walked towards the entrance.

* * *

Okay, Marisol had to be deliberately ignoring her calls at this point so she had to call the next best person.

Katie looked at the number in her phone with apprehension. It’s been months since they talked, and she still felt awkward at the prospect of them interacting. Sure there was prom, but that was a one time thing.

The name on the contact simply read “Jake”.

As Katie pressed the dial button and held her cell phone up to her, she waited for her ex-boyfriend to pick up in nervousness. On the fourth ring, he answered it.

“....Katie?” She heard him ask on the other line. He sounded incredulous. Was it a bad time to admit she missed his voice?

“Jake? Hi,” she greeted awkwardly.

“Hey…...,” he greeted back just as awkwardly and Katie wanted to end the call and hide in the closet of her dorm room. “What’s going on?” He asked.

“Um...has Marisol been acting weird lately?” She questioned, cutting right to the point so this conversation wouldn’t immediately go to shit.

There was silence on the other end for a few moments, as if Jake didn’t want to answer her question.

“Well, she was acting very mopey this week and I was worried but as of last night she seems to be fine. She was her usual bubbly and giggly self when we ate at Little Miss Steaks with Eli,” he answered, and he sounded like he was trying to be careful or something.

“Eli? Eli Goldsworthy?” She asked incredulously. 

“I don’t think we know any other Elis,” he replied.

The mental image of Jake, Marisol, and Eli eating dinner together was so ludicrous she wanted to start laughing. Jake and Eli weren't the weird part as they were good friends, but Eli and Marisol? The two of them despised each other in high school. Marisol spreaded a rumor that he was obsessed with death their junior year and bitched about having to take classes with him all of the time.

“How did that happen? Eli coming to eat dinner with you guys?” She asked again.

“Well Marisol invited him-”

“ _ Marisol? _ ”

“I know it sounds crazy but yes. They apparently had a few nice talks over the week when they were eating at each other’s jobs and so Marisol asked him to come to Mexican Night,” Jake explained with a tone of disbelief himself. “You should have seen how friendly they were acting towards each other. It was very…. _ interesting  _ to say the least.”

“What do you mean?” 

“They….it was almost like they were flirting. But the thought of that is too freaking weird to think about.”

Weird was the understatement of the century. 

“Strange,” Katie could only say in response, and she nodded slowly as if he could see her, “Well...um...so Jake, how have you been these days?”

“Good, good. I’ve been doing a lot of construction work with my dad, exploring the wilderness, reading up on gardening, and I'll be working at another camp this summer. It’s been pretty good right now,” he answered.

“That’s so neat. I’m actually going to be working at a kid’s summer camp too for the next three weeks as well. I’ll be home next month,” she said.

“That’s awesome!” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah, looking forward to seeing you. We haven’t talked in a long time.”

“I know. Well you know, I’ve been pretty busy with university but I can’t wait for us to catch up as friends.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah!”

There was awkward silence between them for the next few seconds.

“Well I gotta go...it was nice talking to you, Jake.”

“Same. I’ve been missing you, Katie.”

“Bye!”

“Bye!”

As Katie clicked her phone off, Jake’s words couldn’t stop replaying in her mind. She was still worried about Mare but her heart was racing over something else right now.

_ “I’ve been missing you, Katie.” _

* * *

“Ha! Goldsworthy sweep yet again!” Eli taunted as the crane picked up all of the rolling pins. He had knocked over all of them with one strike. His score was now at 48 while Marisol’s was 31.

“Boo, you’re just lucky!” Marisol whined as she got off their seat and approached their bowling lane. Eli was kicking her ass at this game and she was pissed. She didn’t expect him to be so good at bowling. As the crane put down a fresh set of pins, Marisol picked up a hot pink bowling ball and got into position.

“The view sure is great from here,” Eli remarked and she knew he was only saying that because he was looking at her ass. “I’m trying to think of how you’re going to  _ reward  _ me for winning the game.”

“Oh yeah? Well dream on Emo Boy!” Marisol fired back before rolling her ball down the lane….only for it to knock down only two pins. Feeling her anger rise, she picked up a rainbow colored ball and swung it back and forth a few times before rolling it at a faster and rougher pace.

It rolled right into the gutter section.

While Marisol let out a million curses, she could hear Eli’s mocking laughter.

* * *

“Katie, I can’t spy on Marisol for you,” Maya, her little sister, said to her in exasperation over the phone.

“It’s not spying, it’s checking up on her and making sure she’s alright,” Katie tried to convince her.

“Marisol has her own life, and why would she want to spend time with a high school sophomore on a Sunday? Come on.”

“There has to be something you can do. Marisol practically sees you as a little sister, Maya, she wouldn’t suspect anything from you. You can’t call her or text her? Please,” Katie pleaded. A deep sigh was heard from the other side.

“Fine. I’ll try to talk to her today,” Maya agreed flatly.

“Thank you so much, sissy poo.”

“Call me that again, and I’m blocking your number.”

After their conversation ended, Katie decided to check through Marisol’s Twitter to see if there was any strange activity. So far there were only a few retweets about how trash men are, retweets about how hopefully next month was full of happiness and peace, and some retweets about how good dick can be the path to changing your life around. 

Then she found the picture.

It was of Marisol with a huge plate of loaded nachos at Little Miss Steaks with Eli and Jake. It was obviously from Saturday night due to what Jake told her. Marisol was sitting close together with Eli with a big smile on her face, and he was looking at her with his usual smirk. Jake was sitting across from them and sipping a blue margarita.

_ “Had an amazing Mexican Night at Little Miss Steaks with some guys from my high school. #DegrassiClassof2013, _ ” the caption on the post read.

Marisol and Eli being in the same room, let alone sitting and  _ smiling  _ together, felt unnatural. From the picture, she could tell Jake was thinking the same thing. What was going on these days with her best friend? Were her and Eli friends now?

A thought appeared in the back of her mind, but Katie quickly didn’t think more of it because the mere idea of it was ludicrous.

* * *

With one effortless roll, Eli knocked down all of the pins and won the game with a score of 75 to Marisol’s 42.

Smiling smugly, he sauntered back to Marisol who was pouting and folding her arms.

“Well, it’s time to claim my prize for winning the game, Marisol,” Eli warned her.

“And what is that?” She asked, somewhat nervously.

“This,” he replied before grabbing her, dipping her, and then kissing her passionately on the lips. He made sure to suck on her bottom lip so he could savor the cherry lip gloss.

Pulling her back up, he parted from her with a wet pop of his lips.

“A kiss?” She asked him again with an amused smile.

“The sweetest reward, well second sweetest,” he replied.

“What’s the first?”

Eli looked around to make sure no kids were around. Then he leaned into her ear. “That wonderful thing between your legs,” he whispered into her ear, and she gave him a slight shudder in pleasure. He nipped at her earlobe before pulling away. Looking at Marisol right now made him want to take her to his car for sex, but he had to restrain himself for a few more hours. It was so difficult to hold that desire in when she looked sexy as hell though. He enjoyed picking out her outfit today, and he wished she would start wearing red and black more often because they were attractive colors on her.

“I didn’t expect Eli Goldsworthy to be such a horny bastard,” Marisol commented to him.

“And I didn’t expect the snobby and uptight Marisoi Lewis to enjoy doggystyle so much so I guess we’re a perfect match,” he pointed out. It was such an animalistic position that he expected her to fight him when he pinned her face down on her bed, but she only started moaning loud in response while he got behind her. 

“Sure,” she replied, playing at being unconvinced. “If you want to believe that.”

“I do believe that. Come on, now let's turn our bowling shoes in and check out the arcade,” he told her as he sat down and took his bowling shoes off. She did the same and put back on her black and pink sneakers. After they were done, they turned their shoes in and started walking towards the arcade. Once again, Eli wrapped his arm around Marisol. 

“So what do you want to play first?” He asked as he bought them some power cards to swipe the arcade machines with for credit. He bought a hundred chips for them both.

“That one,” Marisol answered while pointing to one of the giant wheel games. The pair of wheels were fishing-themed with the largest prize possible being five thousand tickets. She ran up to it and swiped her card, making the machine light up. She grabbed the lever on the side, pulled it down swiftly, and they both watched in anticipation to see what she was going to win as the wheel spun rapidly.

When it slowed down, the ticks on the machine landed on four tickets.

“Stupid ass machine,” Marisol grumbled as she kneeled down and took the four tickets. 

“Let me try,” Eli offered as he swiped his card on the machine and copied her actions. As he pulled the lever down, he watched in dread to see if he was only going to win two tickets or something.

Instead it was forty.

“Really?” Marisol demanded in annoyance as he got his tickets in excitement.

“Looks like the lucky Goldsworthy streak continues,” he bragged as he put the tickets in a large cup. It looks like that cup was going to be filled up by the time they were done.

“Ugh,” she complained as they moved onto the next game, which were the skee balls. With these, they wordlessly decided they were going to use each machine separately. Eli wasted no time in throwing the skee balls up the holes as soon as they started rolling towards him, and it was paying off as they kept landing in holes. Every so often, he would take a quick second to see how Marisol was doing. From the way she was cursing, she obviously wasn’t doing well.

When the game was over, he had won 200 tickets while she only had ten because her balls kept landing in the gutter.

“I think I’m going to need a Hall of Fame trophy after today,” he mocked while shaking his cup of tickets at her.

“Fuck you,” she snarled.

“You already did a whopping five times already, Princess,” he replied with a smirk.

She flashed a very rude gesture to him in response.

* * *

Katie waited a few more hours before calling Marisol again. When her friend picked up, she was actually shocked.

“Mare?” She asked as she heard Marisol laugh at something. She could also hear some arcade machines being played in the background. Where was she at?

“Katie, hey again. What’s up?” 

“You’re not answering my phone calls, missy. That’s what’s up,” Katie scolded. “What’s been going on with you, Mare? You know how paranoid I get when you don’t answer my calls.”

“I’ve been really busy lately, sorry. You know you can text me too, right? Sorry for having my own life,” Marisol replied sarcastically.

“Well, you better get it together because I have something to tell you.”

“What?”

“I talked to Jake earlier this afternoon,” Katie confessed, and she was embarrassed at how badly her stomach was fluttering just by mentioning Jake.

“O-M-G, really? How was it?” Marisol asked her excitedly.

“He told me that he missed me and that he can’t wait to see me again next month,” Katie revealed, and her own voice was laced with excitement.

“Oooh, sounds like he might want to get back together with you after all!”

“I don’t know, it’s been a year since our breakup….”

“Well obviously, he’s not over you. You and Jake just seemed to fit when you guys were together. Like, I don’t know how to describe it, but he’s your perfect match and you guys are like soulmates. You don’t know how sad Jake gets sometimes when we hang out and I think it’s because he doesn’t have you in his life,” Marisol explained to her, and Katie felt her heart soar at the words.

She had been interested in Jake since their junior year of high school but they never got together back then because he was dating Clare and she was dating Drew. However even in the back of her head, she thought of him and how they had so much fun at Movie Night. When they finally did get together in senior year, she had never felt so right in her life. She thought Drew was the perfect guy but it was actually Jake. He was tall, handsome, friendly, caring, and a relaxed guy that balanced her out well.

When they broke up over the Vegas incident, it hurt more than her losing her whole college fund. She thought they were going to get back together on prom night with the passionate kiss they shared, but they just never talked about it and she tried to move on in college. Moving on did not work, however, and she was not over Jake.

And apparently he possibly wasn’t over her either.

“You think so?” She asked. Marisol had always supported her and Jake, and so she valued Marisol’s input on this matter more than anything.

“Yeah!”

“Well how about you and Mo?”

There was dead silence on the other line, and Katie was worried that Marisol might hang up on her in anger.

“Mo and I are never getting back together, and I’m okay with that now,” Marisol answered in a very careful tone of voice.

“Are you sure?”

“Definitely. He’s moved on and I’m trying to move on without dwelling much on the past, but I think you and Jake are meant to be and it’s time you guys stop playing around and get back together with him. I miss you guys,” her best friend encouraged.

“I miss us too. I can’t believe I’m going to see you guys again, next month.”

“Well we’re going to go shopping, clubbing, and bar hopping until our feet drop. My nineteenth birthday party is going to be lit, I’ll tell you. And with you by my side again, Katie-kins, it’s going to get even better!”

“Exactly, Mare. I’m glad we had this conversation. Well I’m going to let you go now, I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

“Amazing, babe. I love you, talk to you later!”

“Love you too! Bye!” 

As Katie clicked the end call button, she was feeling even more excited that she was going to see Jake again next month.

Then it hit her that she forgot to confront Marisol on her dinner with Jake and Eli on Saturday night when that was the entire purpose of her call.

* * *

“I can’t believe you were screaming the whole time we were playing the game,” Eli said in amusement as him and Marisol exited the booth housing the House of The Undead IV game. As soon as the game started, Marisol was shrieking at the sight of any zombie. She was too busy screaming to actually shoot anyone and he was basically carrying them for six rounds. Ultimately they both died, but she died first of course.

“Well what did you expect? It’s a horror game. I usually don’t do this because they freak me out!” Marisol exclaimed as they walked to the redemption center. After flopping at the first few arcade games, she got way better and was kicking his ass at the basketball hoops, air hockey, car racing machines, Monopoly, Frogger, Deal or No Deal, and so many others. He actually found it really attractive. 

Admittedly, he wasn’t really good at a lot of the physical activity games anyway. When he won twenty tickets from the hammer strike game, he was surprised but Marisol won sixty just by hitting her hammer effortlessly on the target. On the other hand, he embarrassed himself at the jump rope machine. He didn’t win shit due to jumping right on the line as soon as it came by him but Marisol got a high score and a lot of tickets when it was her turn.

They were having a lot of fun, and he almost wanted to redeem their cards so they could play more games but they were getting pretty hungry and it was time to go.

At the redemption center, there was a very bored teenaged worker behind the counter. He was chewing on some gum and popping it very loudly. They had to pick a prize quickly before Eli got annoyed.

“What would you like?” Eli asked her.

“You don’t want anything?” She asked back in confusion.

“Not really. This is all for you,” he answered with a shrug. She gave him an adorable smile in response while she looked around the place.

“That one!” She exclaimed as she pointed at a giant stuffed panda. It was 600 tickets, which he did have. “It’s so cute!” She gushed, and he tried not to groan at the fact she was about to add another stuffed animal to her already huge collection. Another one that he would have to go out of his way to not look at while having sex with her. 

As he gave the cashier his tickets for the panda bear, she was picking out something else with her four hundred tickets. She picked out a black basketball with a web design that was exactly four hundred tickets. “For you to practice your basketball skills on so you don’t get your ass tore up by me next time,” she said with a smirk.

“Whatever,” he replied dryly as the worker handed Marisol the panda. After she turned in her tickets for the ball, she kissed him on the cheek.

“You’re the best, Eli,” she thanked him.

“My pleasure,” He replied as he took the ball from her. With his free hand, he grabbed her hand. “So where would you like to go for dinner?”

“The Dot. I’m in the mood for a milkshake and burger,” she answered cheerfully as they finally started to leave Dave & Busters. It was beginning to get dark outside.

As they walked back to his car, Eli wondered how this date could get any better. 

* * *

“I still can’t believe you went streaking through the school,” Marisol said with a laugh. They were talking about all kinds of random things while having dinner at The Dot. She had feared that their conversation would be dry outside of sex, but it was their usual fun banter.

“Neither did I,” he replied while chuckling as he sipped on the salted caramel milkshake they were sharing. While they both had their own favorite milkshake flavor, they decided to try something new together to celebrate their great day so far. 

“I guess drugs and Eli Goldsworthy aren’t a good mix,” she commented as she popped a cheese fry into her mouth. The cheese sauce was hot, full, and tasty as usual and so was her bacon cheeseburger. After she ate the fry, she went back to munching on her burger.

“No, just molly,” he corrected while taking another sip.

“Pretty much one third of the female student body saw your dick,” she added, thinking about that crazy day. While she, Katie, Jake, and Mo were tearing down the walls blocking the garden, Eli was streaking around the school. All five of them ended up sitting in detention together after school.

“And you weren’t one of them, I bet you were upset,” he dryly replied.

“I got to see it a year later, though, and I have to say it’s very pretty,” she complimented.

“Pretty? How so?” He asked in curiosity.

“Well it’s long, has a peach color, is not too thick or too thin, and it has a little curve. The tip is a nice pink too as it’s not that weird red or hot pink color guys sometimes have,” she explained as this was something she thought over. 

“All dicks are ugly to me,” he replied with a raised eyebrow.

“Well you’re not attracted to boys, so you wouldn’t understand,” she pointed out as she finished off her burger with a few more big bites. Now she was back to eating her cheese fries, which was about to be all gone as well. Eli had already eat his meal of chicken tenders and fries.

“I guess. So do you like how my pussy looks?” She asked seductively as she reached over and trailed her fingers up his arms on the table.

This was a highly inappropriate conversation to be had at a family restaurant where high school kids regularly frequent but at the moment she didn’t care. She genuinely wanted to know.

“It is. It tastes amazing as well,” he answered with a smirk. She didn’t know whether his jawline or his smirk was the sexiest part of his face. She was leaning more towards the smirk with each passing second. Every time he flashed it, she felt her body grow hot in desire.

“I can tell you really like it, Eli,” she purred, and just like that she was getting aroused just by them talking about this. “You really enjoy going down on a girl, huh?”

“I like giving as much as receiving, and it would be unfair for only one person to feel pleasure during sex, especially when you really like that person,” he explained.

“What do you like about me?” She questioned.

“You’re pretty hilarious even when you’re trying not to be. You’re smarter than you let on, you’re fun, you’re actually caring and considerate when you want to be, and you have a certain spunk that I like. You’re also very beautiful but you already know that,” he answered.

“I do know that,” she bragged, which made him playfully roll his eyes.

“I don’t usually like arrogant women,” he said.

“Which is funny coming from an arrogant man,” she shot back quickly.

“Me? Arrogant? Where?” He asked in mock offense.

“I don’t know...does ‘Goldsworthy Sweep?’ ring a bell? And all that other shit you were talking today?” She asked with narrowed eyes.

“I can’t help it if I’m good at bowling and other games, Princess. You just need to get good,” he argued.

“Whatever, Emo Boy,” she replied, unconvinced. “I’m going to finish this milkshake off,” she said as she reached for the glass, only for him to reach for it at the same time.

“Let’s finish this off together,” he suggested.

“Fine by me,” she agreed while leaning in and taking a straw into her mouth. He did the same and together they sipped down the milkshake together.

“So...when Bianca comes around with the bill what do you want to do next?” He asked while licking off some excess milkshake around his mouth.

Marisol just smirked mischievously in response.

* * *

Katie was scrolling through her Facerange feed while laying around in her bed. Grey’s Anatomy was playing on her tv in the background.

She saw a picture of Bianca DeSousa taking a selfie of herself in The Dot bathroom, Fiona Coyne posting about how she misses her friends in Toronto, Clare posting a picture of her and K.C. eating wings together at The Dot, and lastly Marisol posting a picture of herself playing whack-a-mole at Dave & Busters….and the picture was posted five minutes ago.

Interesting. So that’s what Marisol was doing today.

Katie felt like a stalker for how she was acting but she couldn’t stop at this point. She needed to know what was going on because Marisol was acting weird. She knew she should be glad that Marisol was no longer acting depressed over Mo, but when Jake revealed to her that Eli tagged along on their dinner date, she was suspicious. 

She had a feeling that Marisol was lying to her about a lot of things, but she was covering her lies up too well for Katie to accuse her of anything.

Katie couldn’t wait to get back home because then Marisol wouldn’t be able to lie in her face. 

Marisol was a bad liar, and she could always scope out her lies.

* * *

“That’s right. Ride my dick,” Eli growled out as Marisol bounced up and down on his length vigorously in the backseat of his car. She wasn’t doing anything but moaning wantonly in response and placing her hands on his chest for balance. With the way she was moving her hips while on top of him, he was not going to last long. She was too good at this.

It was clear from the moment they left the restaurant that they were going to have sex again tonight. Round one was happening right now in his parent’s car while he was parked at the back of The Dot. It was a good thing he bought condoms.

Reaching up to grip her breasts through her top, Eli thrusted upwards into her. He threw his head back onto the seat in pleasure while she cried out in response. They were moving in perfect sync with each other. He enjoyed it when women took charge and climbed on top of him during sex, and Marisol was more demanding about it than all of the other girls he’ve been with. She demanded he pull his pants down and get in the backseat as soon as he reached for the car door.

He felt her walls clamp around his dick and that was the breaking point. “Fuck!” He exclaimed as he spilled into his condom. Marisol slowly slid off of him and collapsed on top of him, panting.

After a few minutes of them not talking, Eli decided to speak up.

“So does this mean I’m getting another date?” He asked her while wiping the sweat off her face for her.

“Hmm...I think I’m going to have to go home with you to figure that out,” she replied with a hazy look in her eyes.

“That’s fine by me,” he accepted eagerly.

Their lips then met in a sensual kiss.


	7. Any Time, Any Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The smut scene in this chapter starts from “To his great pain, Marisol had to stop sucking him because he wanted to be inside of her right at this moment” to “That was amazing, Eli,” if you want to skip it.
> 
> Song title is Any Time, Any Place by Janet Jackson.

_ Two Weeks Later _

Marisol fluttered her eyes open, and the rays of the morning sun hit her face. As she lifted her body up, she let out a loud yawn and rubbed her eyes. For a while, a sense of sadness dwelled in her while she got out of bed and her body ached because of it. Recently, she had been feeling great when she woke up however.

For the past two weeks, she has been waking up with an appreciation for life again and it was of her new boyfriend, Eli Goldsworthy. Their relationship had just started, but she could already say he made her so happy, and it wasn’t just because of the wonderful sex they were having although that was a big part of it.

Outside of sex, they were doing other intimate things like going on dates, cooking together, watching movies and tv shows, and just simply spending time in each other’s presence. It was comforting, relaxing, and a breath of fresh air, which is what they both needed after the turmoil of their previous relationships. They have been basically playing house the whole time their parents were gone, and she was surprised at how….right it felt.

The shock of them being together was still there, as it wasn’t really registering in her head yet that she was heavily dating a guy she hated at Degrassi. She didn’t think she would have given him the time of day if he was interested in her back in high school, and that thought embarrassed her. She really was a shallow bitch back then, wasn’t she? Mo humbled her a lot, but she still looked down on kids who weren’t “normal”. University helped her overcome that attitude as she was exposed to people from all different walks of life, and no one would care that she was the alpha bitch of Degrassi Community School. It was a lesson in open-mindedness that she needed and maybe that’s why she developed feelings for Eli. Well him also changing his attitude towards her also helped, and him changing his appearance.

In high school, she could always tell something wasn’t right in Eli’s head and his skin had a deathly pale look to it for the entirety of their junior year. With his gothic appearance, brooding attitude, and willingness to drive a funeral car to school, he was scary to her and it didn’t help that he involved himself in several incidents that should have landed him in a psych ward. Even when he cut his unkempt black hair, and toned down his emo look their senior year, she was still hesitant to be around him.

But now? Eli was glowing. With his natural hair and soft tan, he actually looked  _ healthy _ . He was much more friendlier and fun these days, and she realized he had a beautiful smile. It was just as big and loving as her own. Eli still dressed like a goth, and that was possibly never going to change, but he was no longer the frightening kind of goth kid that she wanted to avoid. He was…. _ normal. _

One thing she was loving about him was how romantic he was. He was really putting a lot of passion into their relationship and it hasn’t even been a month. Mo was also like that, but Eli was a little more intense about it.

Speaking of Mo, he was coming back to Toronto this week and she didn’t know how she felt about it. Did she still hate him? Maybe not, but she would rather not be in the same room as him. However with Jake and Katie wanting them all to go out to dinner next week, it was inevitable. Katie was coming back next week for the summer, and she couldn’t be more excited for that. 

Eventually and probably soon, she would have to tell everyone that her and Eli were dating. She was curious as to how they were going to react. Jake most likely wouldn’t care, Katie would ask a million questions, and Mo….who knows how he would take the news. Hopefully he wouldn’t be an asshole about it. If he was allowed to move on, then so should she. He didn’t own her.

As Marisol got ready for today, she pondered her life and where it was going to go from here.

* * *

“Imogen, let Jack go,” Eli advised his best friend tiredly.

“I can’t! I like her and I miss her so much!” Imogen exclaimed.

“But do you  _ love  _ her? That’s the part you need to consider. Has she made a significant enough impact on your life that you feel that you can’t live without her? Are you trying to say she’s the most important relationship you had here at Degrassi?” He argued as he tried to get through to Imogen.

He was sick of her coming into The Dot to complain about Jack Jones, who he felt was never a good fit for Imogen anyway. The girl was too boring and was sucking the fun attitude right out of his friend. He was glad when they broke up, but Imogen was convincing herself that she needed Jack even though she was about to graduate next week.

“Maybe? I really like her, Eli,” she replied sheepishly before taking a brownie cookie off the counter and eating it without paying for it. He was ignoring that for now.

“But are you in  _ love  _ with her? There’s a world’s difference between liking someone and actually being in love with them,” he pointed out.

“Well I could be in love with her,” she answered and he wanted to bang his head up and down the counter in frustration. There was no way she was actually in love with this girl when Jack constantly had her stressed out and trying to be perfect for her.

“You know who you were actually in love with? Fi-”

“Hey! We do not say the F word around here, remember?” Imogen cut him off sharply.

“I’m just speaking facts, which is something you apparently don’t want to hear right now,” he replied while folding his arms.

“Well I don’t want to hear  _ that _ name right now when she doesn’t even talk to me these days,” she commented bitterly. “I think the last time we talked was when she wished me a happy New Year. She hurt my feelings and I want to forget about her.”

“Have you ever considered that you hurt her feelings too when you dumped her at our graduation? I still talk to her too, and she really misses you, Imogen,” he said, which made her snort.

“Yeah right,” she muttered.

“Tell me, are you only putting this much effort into this little thing you have with Jack because you’re not over your ex and this is your unhealthy way of coping with that?” He questioned, and the way Imogen’s face shifted told him all he needed to know. “Look I’m saying this with love, Imogen, but you don’t need Jack and her leaving you was for the best. You have me, you have Adam, you have Becky, you have Drew, you have a lot of people that are way more important to you than Jack Jones and it’s time for you to realize that.”

She bit her lip nervously as she contemplated his words.

“I don’t think I can. I don’t know what I’m going to do without her,” she replied in a soft tone of voice. “I’m going to go, have a fun rest of your shift.”

She gave him two dollars for the brownie cookie, and left the restaurant quietly. He sighed as he put a new cookie on the counter for display. Tonight, he was going to make a call to his other female best friend to end this madness. He had an idea that he was confident was going to work.

It was weird whenever he was the one giving relationship advice instead of receiving it. The thing was, he was not ready to receive relationship advice about Marisol yet from his friends. He was not expecting Imogen to take the news that he was dating her former high school bully well and Adam was not going to take it seriously. Dave would probably think he’s joking at first, and so would Fiona. 

Jake probably wouldn’t care, but Mo….considering that Marisol was his ex-girlfriend there was a strong chance he might be outraged. Mo was the one he was scared of the most.

So basically, he had no one to confide in.

Well, he had one person.

“You’re looking like a ray of sunshine these days,” Bianca remarked to him as she stepped behind the counter to make a smoothie for a customer. Her working at The Dot these past two weeks had caused a surprising increase of male customers. Unfortunately for the male customers, she was not looking to date anyone right now and was quick to let a guy know.

“Must be the warm weather,” he replied.

“Or your new girlfriend, Marisol Lewis.”

“Her too.”

“How does a relationship between you guys even work?”

“Like any other normal relationship between consenting adults. Would you like to know the intimate details?” He asked her, and she let out a light laugh in response.

“No thank you, Dr. Doom,” she rejected. “It just seems like you guys would drive each other crazy because you’re complete opposites of each other.”

“Well, somehow we’re doing just fine right now,” he said, “No trouble in paradise.”

“You guys are still keeping it a secret?” She asked him.

“For the time being, yes. The only people that are aware of us are you and Peter,” he answered. He actually didn’t want his co-workers to find out but Bianca was him and Marisol’s waitress yesterday and unfortunately Peter noticed how much he was glowing this afternoon and correctly assumed it was because of Marisol. While Peter didn’t personally know any of their friends enough to snitch on them, Bianca was friends with Adam and Imogen because of Drew, and that was the part that scared him.

“Fun. I like secrets,” Bianca replied with a smirk. “Don’t worry, my lips are sealed,” she added when she noticed how uncomfortable he was.

“Good, because absolutely no one else needs to know right now,” he told her. Just then, Drew walked in and Bianca quickly got quiet as a mouse. She avoided Drew’s gaze.

Whatever was going on between the two, Eli found it interesting even though it was none of his business. To be fair though, Drew and Bianca had a bad habit of making their relationship problems everyone’s business in high school and it seemed like things were shaping up to be no different in adulthood. 

Right now, it was them awkwardly trying to be friends after their breakup but everyone in The Dot could see that they weren’t really over each other, and it was causing some issues. Drew definitely wasn’t over his ex-fiancée, and while Bianca pretended she moved on, he could see it in her eyes that she was still in love with Drew. He personally couldn’t understand it as Drew was a moron that kept making the same mistakes over and over again, but he understood more than anyone that you can’t control who you love. 

“Hey B,” Drew greeted warmly as he took a seat in front of the counter. He gave him a quick nod, and Eli gave him a nod back.  “Can I get a strawberry smoothie? And I’ll take some of those cookies there for Mom,” he requested.

“Coming right up,” she answered as she slid her current customer their smoothie. She then went to fix Drew’s, and his eyes were on her the whole time. Meanwhile, Eli was ringing up his order for him but Drew was not paying him any attention.

“I was wondering if we could talk for a bit while you were on break,” he suggested to Bianca with hopeful eyes. Eli picked up some cookies from behind him and handed them to Drew, and Drew in return gave him the money needed for it.

“About what?” She asked him, and Eli felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Drowning out Drew and Bianca’s conversation, he took his phone and looked at his notifications. He got a text from Marisol, and it seemed to be a picture. Eli opened up the phone and checked to see what it was. His mouth dropped when he saw what it was. He then let out a whistle.

A black babydoll gown was laid on Marisol’s bed. It had a lacy top with a deep v-neckline and a flower print design. He also could tell the top was transparent. The skirt portion was made up of sheer fabric. Next to it was a lacy black thong that was little more than a string.

The picture came with the caption: “ **I’m thinking of wearing this for you tonight. What do you think?”**

He wasted no time in texting with a quick “ **Pls do”** . A couple seconds later, she texted him back.

**“You got it Emo Boy ;)”** were the words she texted him back, and Eli was now very excited for his shift to end. It was very easy to visualize Marisol in that outfit, and he couldn’t wait to actually see her in it. 

They haven’t been keeping their hands off each other since they started dating, and he wondered if it was due to them both going without sex for so long. Well Marisol went on longer without it than him but still. He didn’t mind as he very much enjoyed having sex with Marisol but it was a stark contrast from his relationships with Julia and Clare and he wondered if that was bad. His relationship with Lenore was mostly comprised of sex and they barely lasted more than a month. Then again, that was just him rebounding while he personally felt like he wasn’t with Marisol. 

He didn’t think he was in love yet, but he liked her a lot and was hoping they would last more than a month. He liked to think that they would as he felt that they were making a genuine connection. 

“Eli, I’m going on break. I’ll be back in like twenty minutes,” Bianca told him, and it cut him out of his thoughts. He gave her a nod, before she left the counter and walked off with Drew somewhere.

Peter took her place and flashed him a mischievous smile as he started wiping the counter with a wet rag and cleaning solution. “So I can tell you’ve been having a great time these past few weeks,” the older guy remarked.

“Is it really obvious?” Eli asked him.

“Uh yeah, have you seen the way you look these days? It’s like you have permanent sex hair, dude,” Peter pointed out and Eli sighed.

“I don’t know why you’re so invested in my sex life these days,” he replied to him.

“Well I’m just happy you’ve found love in someone else because you were looking  _ extremely  _ miserable working here since you were hired and Spin was wondering if he made a mistake,” Peter explained.

“Please, there are far worse people working here than me,” Eli countered while rolling his eyes. Last night, one of their co-workers was arrested while on shift for trying to run an illegal cockfighting ring outside of work. While a reporter from one of the Toronto news stations was interviewing him afterwards, Eli wondered if  _ he  _ was the one who made a mistake applying for this job.

“I guess, but you have to admit that you weren’t the happiest camper working here when The Dot is supposed to be a chill place and a relaxed environment. But I’m glad Marisol’s making you happier now. A good woman will do that,” Peter replied with a wink.

_ ‘And she’s about to make me even more happy tonight,’  _ Eli thought to himself with a smirk.

* * *

With one final flick of a lit candlestick, Marisol lit the last of her vanilla sugar scented candles. They were placed all across her living room and were the only light in the room. Her main living room couch was covered with a large black drape, and on the coffee table in front of it was a small bowl of strawberries with a jar of chocolate dip. 

When she got off her shift at nine, she knew she only had an hour or so to prepare for her romantic night with Eli before he got off his own shift at ten. With how excited he seemed when she sent him the picture, she knew that he was going to fly over to her house as fast as possible. She was pleased at how much she was able to get done in such a short time period. She took a hot shower, put on her babydoll gown, put on her favorite night robe, did her hair and makeup, and prepared the food. 

There was a knock on the door, and Marisol turned on her stereo to play some sensual music before walking up to her door and checking through the peephole to see who it was. It was Eli, as expected.

As soon as she opened the door, Eli stepped in, grabbed her, and hungrily kissed her while closing the door and locking behind them. Marisol briefly kissed back before pulling away but that didn’t stop him from attacking her neck with kisses.

“Hold on. You don’t get to ravish me just yet,” Marisol playfully scolded him as she pushed him off of her. He gave her a look of frustration while she just giggled in response. Grabbing his hand, she led him to sit down on the couch. Sitting down next to him, she reached over and squeezed his shoulders. “You feel so tense, baby. Did something happen at work today?” She asked him in concern.

“No. I’m just very horny right now but my girlfriend is being a fucking tease,” he dryly replied as he folded his arms.

“Oh I’m sorry to hear that, Eli. Is there anything I could do to help with that?” She asked innocently.

“Hmm let me see…,” he replied before reaching for the front of her nightgown. She smacked his hand away in response. “Ow!” He whined as he rubbed his wounded hand.

“Now, now, Emo Bear. I told you not yet,” she chided, “You’re too tense and you haven’t even taken your jacket off yet.” She reached over and pulled off his denim jacket for him while he helped by pulling his arms out of the sleeves. He then let her pull his Dot shirt over his head. He was now shirtless in front of her.

“Lay back on the couch for me, babe,” she ordered, and he complied with a curious look on his face.

“What are you about to do?” He asked her.

“Just be quiet, and let me help you relax,” she answered.

“Okay,” he accepted with an amused smile as he put his hands behind his head.

Marisol took the jar of chocolate and opened it. She then took one of the strawberries from the bowl and dipped it in the chocolate sauce. With it, she then trailed the chocolate strawberry over Eli’s lips, then both of his nipples, and wrote her name vertically down his body in big letters. She occasionally dipped the strawberry back in the chocolate when she was running out of it. She popped the strawberry into her mouth and chewed slowly while Eli watched her in anticipation.

She then leaned down and sensually kissed her boyfriend. She slowly licked the chocolate off his lips while savoring the thick and sweet taste of it. Eli moaned deep in her mouth while they kissed and it immediately caused her to grow damp in her thong. She didn’t know how she was going to keep him off of her when a part of her badly wanted him right now.

Marisol pulled away from Eli’s lips before traveling down to his nipples. She licked the chocolate off one of them in circles and then took it in her mouth and sucked, making him moan again. After a few minutes of sucking, she let go of it with a wet pop before giving her attention to his other nipple. She looked up into his eyes as she orally pleased him. With the way his mouth was hanging open and how hazy his eyes looked, she knew that she had him in a trance. He was under her control for now.

Pulling away from his other nipple, she pinched them both before trailing her tongue down his body to lick her name off. Eli wouldn’t stop making noises of pleasure while she took her time with licking the chocolate. She could feel his stomach rising and falling, and she could also feel him starting to get hard in his jeans.

When she was finally done, she licked the chocolate around her lips off. Eli was looking back at her in wonder. “You’re amazing, you know that right?” He asked her.

“I know, and it’s about to get even better for you,” she purred as she got off the couch. She untied the front of her robe and let it drop to the floor in a heap, finally showing him the nightie.

Eli’s reaction was pretty predictable. He eyed her from head to toe, and stared at her with so much lust in his eyes she felt naked. Well she wasn’t going to be  _ completely  _ naked tonight. She didn’t spend all that money on this babydoll gown just for him to immediately tear it off.

“Where’d you get this little number?” He asked her in a husky tone.

“Victoria’s Secret,” she replied with a smirk as she got back on the couch. “I got it actually a few weeks ago for myself, but I met the perfect guy that I knew would love this on me.”

“And I do,” he said, “Am I allowed to ravish you now?” She could feel the hunger he had for her radiating off of him, but he couldn’t take her just yet.

“Not yet, baby,” she answered with a teasing smile. “I still need to get you to relax.” She picked up another strawberry, dipped it in chocolate, and held it up to Eli’s mouth for him to eat. He took it in his mouth eagerly and chewed softly.

She traveled down to his jeans and squeezed the large bulge in his jeans, which made him groan in pleasure. “You look like you need some help with this, Eli. Would you like for me to help you?” She asked seductively.

Eli reached over to the table and threw another strawberry in his mouth. “Your help will be definitely appreciated,” he answered with his own classic smirk.

She took her sweet time in unzipping his jeans.

* * *

Adam Torres frowned in confusion as his phone call to Eli immediately went into voicemail. They were supposed to watch the recent episode of The Walking Dead together but Eli mysteriously cancelled due to other plans. Well he still needed to talk about something important to his best friend. He dialed his friend’s number again.

On the third ring, Eli finally picked up.

“A-A-Adam?” Eli sputtered out on the other line.

“Is this a bad time, bro? I know it’s late,” Adam asked him.

“No….no...what’s up?” 

“Why are you stuttering?”

“I’m feeling a little tense right now. I’m...uh...watching a horror movie and it’s really scary.”

Something about that answer didn’t feel right but Adam was choosing to ignore that for now. He heard his front door open, and he turned to see Drew stumbling in while making out with Bianca.

Wait.

“I really missed you, Bianca,” Drew said to her in between kisses, “You don’t know how being without you has-”

“Shut up,” Bianca replied swiftly before they went back to kissing. Drew then led them downstairs into the family basement without even saying hi to him. It’s like he wasn’t even there.

Adam blinked as he tried to take in what just happened. It was a sight that he thought he was never going to see again but yet he just saw it. Was he hallucinating?

He turned his attention back to his phone when he heard Eli gasp. “Bro are you okay?” He asked his friend once again in concern. 

“I’m…..FINE!” Eli answered with a high-pitched squeal before gasping once again. “Look Adam, I love you but I have to go right now!”

“What? But-”

“Talk to you later!” Eli cut him off before ending the call, and Adam felt like his head was spinning from how confused he was by everything right now. Nothing made sense. Bianca dumped Drew and didn’t speak to him for months, why the hell was she downstairs most likely having sex with him right now? Eli rarely got scared by horror movies, and when he did, he never gasped or squealed so what the hell was going on with that? At this point, Adam was expecting a pig to fly through the window.

He got a text notification on his phone, and Adam braced himself for more weird shit.

Instead it was from Becky, and she asked him a simple question.

**“I can’t sleep. Can we play a few rounds of Realm of Doom? :)”**

Adam groaned in annoyance before he replied with a yes. Honestly, he hated that game and hated how addicted his girlfriend was to the game, but he suspected that she was using it as a coping mechanism for her troubled home life so he kept indulging in her addiction. It was probably bad of him to do that but he didn’t like making Becky sad.

As he went upstairs to turn on his computer so he could play Realm of Doom with Becky, he heard loud moans coming from the basement. He hasn't heard those in a long time either, and he wished he wasn’t hearing it right now. Not only did he not like hearing his brother have sex, but Drew sounded like a dying whale.

He felt like this was all a weird fever dream he was stuck in.

* * *

To his great pain, Marisol had to stop sucking him because he wanted to be inside of her right at this moment. 

Marisol pulled her mouth off his dick before lifting herself up. She positioned herself on top of his erect shaft before slowly sinking herself down on it. He groaned in pleasure at the feeling of her around him. As she started snapping her hips, he began thrusting while letting his hands grip her waist. 

She was a sexy sight whenever she was on top, and right now in her black babydoll gown she was more ravishing than normal. As soon as she took her robe off to show him the skimpy piece of lingerie, he wanted to tear it off of her. Lacy lingerie was already a big turn on for him, but black lace? It was enough to drive him wild and he hoped he was making that clear right now. It wasn’t even just the babydoll dress but also her dark lipstick (now smeared) and smokey eyeshadow. The goth aesthetic fit his girlfriend well. She needed to start wearing more black.

“Mare,” he moaned out as he reached up and pinched her nipples through her gown, earning him a soft whimper from her. 

“Elijah,” she moaned back while biting down on her lip and closing her eyes in bliss. He stopped thrusting at the sound of his full name.

“Elijah?” He repeated with a raised eyebrow.

“That’s your name isn’t it, baby?” She purred as she continued riding him. In the dim candlelight, he could see the sweat pouring on her beautiful face.

“Yeah….,” he trailed off as it took him a minute to decide whether he liked her using his name like that. No girl had called him by his real name during sex, not even Clare. It was always just “Eli”. But Marisol saying it with that soft, sweet tone of hers?

It was sexy as hell.

“Say my name again,” he commanded while gripping her ass with both of his hands. He then squeezed as he went back to thrusting up inside of her, this time at a rougher pace.

“Elijah…,” she called out softly with an aroused smile.

“Louder,” he growled as he slapped her ass. She squealed in response.

“Elijah!” She cried out as she started bouncing on his dick faster. The couch started to shake underneath them. His stomach was tightening, which was a sign of his inevitable release.

“Louder!” He commanded one more time as he slapped her ass again.

“ELIJAH!” She screamed, and that was his breaking point. With one final thrust, he exploded deep inside of his girlfriend while gripping her hips extra tightly. When he was done, she lifted herself off of him and laid back on the couch, panting.

“That was amazing, Eli,” she complimented him with a smile. 

“Yeah but I didn’t make you cum,” he pointed out with a frown.

“It’s okay, we have all night,” Marisol reassured him as she got off the couch and went into her closet to get something. It was a long, satin blanket. She walked back to the couch, crawled on top of him and threw the blanket over their bodies.

“I know, I just don’t like it when I finish but my girl doesn’t. It’s unfair,” he replied while caressing her hair. “You deserve a million orgasms for being wonderful,” he added.

“I don’t think my body can handle a million orgasms,” she said in amusement.

“Fine, I’ll drop it to a mere hundred orgasms for now, and I’ll be the reason you have every one,” he promised her strongly.

“Wow, you must  _ really _ enjoy having sex with me,” she replied with a giggle.

“I wouldn’t enjoy it so much if you weren’t so good at it. You make a guy want it all of the time, Princess. There are some moments where you feel so good that I almost want to put a baby in you,” he confessed, growing sheepish at the last part.

“Well you can forget about that want because ain’t no baby coming out of me until I’m thirty,” she rejected before they both started laughing. After they were done, they started kissing again under the covers.

Eventually, Eli was ready for another round.


	8. Use To Be My Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reason why it took so long for this chapter to come was because I couldn’t find a song title for it 😭
> 
> Well, it’s Use To Be My Girl by the O’Jays.
> 
> There’s a sex scene in this but it’s razor thin and only like two lines.

It was prom night for Class of 2014, and Eli was attending it as Imogen’s date. Or so she thought.

“Look at my man all sexy in a tux,” Marisol purred while he put on his tuxedo jacket and smoothed it out. She got off his bed and then got behind him in the mirror as he observed him. She sniffed him next. “Mmm, you smell sexy too. Should I be jealous of Pigtails?” She asked while narrowing her eyes.

“No babe, the cologne is for you tonight,” he answered.

“Good because  _ this _ ,” she replied as she slapped his ass, “Belongs to me and no one else,” she finished firmly. He jumped, but only just a little.

“Woah a little feisty there, Princess,” he said.

“Just a lioness defending her territory,” she remarked with a smirk. 

“There’s no need as this lion only belongs to you,” he assured her as she let out a playful roar in response. It made him smile as he thought of how weird this year was turning out.

Four months ago, he just  _ knew  _ he would be Clare’s date to her senior prom. They even planned out what color she was going to wear which was a baby blue. They were then going to have a romantic night at a hotel room just like how it was on his prom night. Then he would attend her graduation and go out with her family to lunch afterwards. The rest of the summer would be them just spending time together before university started back up for both of them, but he had a plan for that too. He had a copy of his apartment key made for her early in the month of February so she could live with him while studying at Columbia University. He was planning to surprise her with it on prom night. Their future was set in the stars.

Well obviously none of this shit was going to happen now but he was no longer miserable over it. 

He could officially say he had moved on from Clare Edwards though he would always care about her and cherish the memories they had together. She meant a lot to him and that probably was never going to change. But he was starting to suspect that he was falling in love with someone else even though they’ve only been together for a short time period. 

“Good,” she replied, “I wonder if the prom this year is going to be as pretty as ours. Ours was so romantic at that hotel ballroom.”

“Yeah Fiona and Imogen did a great job with the decorations. It was a wonderful night for me,” he reminisced as memories of the first time he made love with Clare in the hotel room. When he first had sex with Julia, it was rough, it was in his bedroom, and it was storming outside. It was random and awkward afterwards. With Clare, he went out of his way to make sure it was perfect, and it was. He kissed her a lot and was as gentle as he possibly could be while taking her virginity. Clare had told him it didn’t even hurt.

“It was an awful night for me. Mo complained the whole time about losing Jake, missed out on our song that I specifically requested, and then puked on my expensive shoes. I left prom early and went home and cried all night because I was so embarrassed,” Marisol grumbled.

“I’m so sorry,” he told her in sympathy. 

“I let it go because he made up for it at graduation but now that we’re no longer together, it really upsets me that he ruined prom for me over Jake when it was something I’ve been looking forward to since I was a little girl. Prom was supposed to be  _ my  _ night and even after I catered to him by paying Jake to come, he still decided to fuck it up for me. You only get one Prom, and mine was one of the most humiliating ones in history because of my loving ex-boyfriend. He was lucky I took his dumbass back and forgave him but I guess that wasn’t enough for him,” she ranted. It took her a minute to calm down. “Well, hopefully your plan works and Imogen has a magical prom night. Every girl deserves one. I just wish mine was magical,” she finished sadly. She reached in front of his bowtie and adjusted it.

“It was crooked,” she explained. 

“Thanks,” he replied in gratitude. He watched in the mirror as she looked at her watch. 

“I guess it’s time to pick her up. I’ll be waiting in the car when you’re ready,” Marisol said as she patted his shoulder.

Meanwhile, Eli was forming another plot in his head.

* * *

He arrived at Imogen’s house in a black limousine with the driver having an Italian accent. The driver then beeped his horn.

Imogen stepped out in a very eccentric dress that was themed like a sailor, and he assumed it was due to this year’s senior prom being on a yacht. It was a weird dress but it fit Imogen in a way it wouldn’t with no one else.

His friend had a sad look in her eyes as he stepped out of the limo. “Greetings, Degrassian!” Eli greeted her cheerfully with a big smile. He knew that she really wanted to try to get Jack to go with her, but he was about to prove to her that she didn’t need her to have a good time. He had someone even better in mind for her.

“Eli, you look amazing! But you’re not on theme with me!” She scolded as she pointed out his blue corsage.

“That’s because I’m not the one going to Prom with you,” he replied casually.

“Huh?” She asked in confusion, but his only response was to go to the passenger side of the limo and open the door.

Fiona Coyne, one of his other best friends, stepped out in a sparkling dark brown dress that resembled a pirate boat. She had an enthusiastic smile on her face.

“Fi-Fi-Fiona?” Imogen asked in shock as she dropped her purse.

“Immy!” Fiona greeted as she ran to hug her tightly. His other friend was as frozen as a statue. “I haven’t seen you in so long. How are you?” She asked her as she pulled away and held her ex girlfriend’s hand.

Imogen turned to look at him. “How?” She questioned him.

“I made a phone call this week after having enough of you bitching about Jack and Fi was actually going to fly home this week anyway. You know me, Imogen, I like my schemes,” he answered with a shrug.

“I….,” she tried to say but he could tell she was truly gobsmacked by what was happening. Fiona shifted around awkwardly but was still smiling.

“Are you ready to go? Prom night isn’t forever,” she pointed out to her ex.

“Um sure….,” Imogen replied before moving to get in the limo. Fiona followed her inside.

“Well, have fun ladies! I know shit always happens on prom night at Degrassi but hopefully you guys will be lucky tonight. Ciao!” He bid them farewell as the limo drove off.

He walked around the block to where Marisol was waiting for him in her black convertible. She followed the limo to Imogen’s house and parked around the side so Imogen couldn’t see her. 

For some reason it was amusing to him that for someone as girly as her, that she was willingly driving around in a black car. He expected a pink or yellow car from her. However, the seats inside of her car still had girly coverings on them, the seatbelts were girly, the covering on her driving wheel was pink with lipstick symbols, and she had vanilla-scented air freshener. So, he had to put up with that.

“So how did it go?” She asked him as he got in the passenger side and buckled himself in with a glittery pink seatbelt.

“I think it went well. She was surprised as expected but I have a feeling she’s going to thank me tomorrow,” he answered confidently.

“You and your plots, Emo Boy. How do you do it so easily?” Marisol asked him again with an amused smile.

“Easy, Princess. Cause I’m a fucking mastermind,” he answered again with a smirk as she laughed.

* * *

When they got back to his house, they did pretty much what they’ve been doing since the night they hooked up for the first time.

“Eli….,” Marisol whined as he pulled out of her. He did it slowly to torture her because he felt like it.

“Don’t worry. We’re just getting started,” he reassured her as he sat back on his couch. She continued to lie there for a few moments before getting up off the couch.

“Good, because I’m never satisfied,” she replied.

“Fortunately for you, my dick is always ready to satisfy,” he replied seductively.

“I have to go to the bathroom, I’ll be right back,” Marisol purred before giving him a quick kiss. Eli watched her with a smirk as she sauntered off. She made sure to switch her hips for him, and he already decided she was going to be on top this round.

Then he heard a ding from his laptop. He was getting a Skype call. When he looked over to see who it was, his blood froze.

It was Mo. The last person who needed to be calling him right now.

He grabbed a shirt, put it over his head, put his pants on, and then he reluctantly accepted the call as Mo’s face popped up on the screen. His friend looked great, happy, and excited.

“Eliiii! What’s up my man?” He greeted enthusiastically. Eli could see that he was in his dorm room at his university. There was a framed picture of him and Jake on prom night hanging up on the wall behind him.

“Sup,” Eli greeted back, plastering a fake smile. This really was the worst time. He hoped the call was short but knowing Mo it wasn’t going to be. His friend liked to talk, a little too much sometimes.

“Congratulations on the summer job bro, The Dot is an amazing place. Me and Jake were actually thinking about applying there together when I fly back home for the summer,” Mo said, “We could really be the Three Amigos!”

“That’s a great idea, but you guys don’t want to work somewhere else like Little Miss Steaks?” Eli asked, as the mere thought of all three of them working at the same place after Mo finds out what he and Marisol have been doing was making him scared.

“Naw, the men’s costumes are stupid. Marisol looked fine as hell in her uniform though. Speaking of Marisol, has she been talking about me lately when she comes into The Dot? I really miss her and I kinda want to get back together with her now,” Mo asked him with a hopeful look in his eyes.

Just then, the sound of a toilet flushing was heard upstairs. Oh fuck.

Eli felt his stomach drop in dread. “She’s mentioned you a few times, but nothing more than that,” he answered, and it wasn’t a complete lie. He was just leaving out the part where Mare was angrily swore that her and Mo were never getting back together.

“I know you guys don’t really like each other but I would really appreciate it if you would gather some intel on her to make sure she isn’t dating or banging someone else right now.”

Unfortunately that someone else was him.

_ ‘I don’t think it’s accurate to say we don’t like each other these days,’ _ he thought to himself in amusement.

He heard Marisol come down the steps, and Eli’s heart started racing in anxiety.

“I’m starving,” she whined as she stood in front of him with her hands on her hips, and Eli watched as Mo’s face shifted in confusion. He quickly signaled her to stop talking with just a look.

“Is that Marisol?” Mo questioned.

_ ‘Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK,’  _ he panicked in his head.

“No,” Eli lied immediately. Across from him, Marisol’s eyes widened at the sound of her ex-boyfriend’s voice. If Mo could see how she was dressed right now, they were both going to be in trouble. She was wearing nothing more than his NYU shirt, and due to the fact that he was only an inch taller than her, it barely covered her ass, and she wasn’t wearing any panties. 

“But it sounds like her,” Mo pointed out with narrowed eyes.

“Must be the TV,” Eli reasoned while Marisol pursed her lips and folded her arms.

“Weird,” his friend replied with a shrug, “Anyway. How’s Clare? You guys still talking after the breakup?”

“Yeah, she’s back with her ex K.C. though.”

“That must suck.”

“No it’s fine. We’ve both moved on.”

Marisol flashed him a smile at that statement, and he struggled not to smile back.

“Well I’ll let you go. I got stuff to unpack. Talk to you later, bro and see you sometime this week!” Mo exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Eli replied, relieved that the conversation was over.

Mo ended the call first, and Eli slowly closed his laptop to process what happened. Everything was quiet for a few seconds.

“So..that happened,” he said to Marisol while she went over to sit with him on the couch.

“It did,” his girlfriend replied awkwardly.

“When are we going to tell everyone about us?” He asked. 

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly while scratching her head.

“Well it has to happen soon, Mare, before everybody finds out the wrong way. Look what almost happened right now,” he pointed out. He still had that awful gut feeling in his stomach even after the Skype call was over. He knew he couldn’t take Mo in a fight and Mo would be more motivated than ever to beat the dogshit out of him if he found out that he was fucking his ex-girlfriend in this way.

“I guess I could tell Katie, but she might tell Jake, who would definitely tell Mo and...ugh. Shit,” she replied while rubbing her temples in frustration. 

“What can we do?”

“Well Katie’s going to be back in town next week, and Mo is coming back in two days. I guess we can go all out to dinner next week, and we can break it to everyone together?” She offered with a nervous smile.

“Sureee,” he agreed. Next week was about to be utter hell. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

“So pizza?” She asked with big, pleading eyes.

“I can go for that,” he replied with an uneasy smile as he picked up his cellphone to dial Domino’s number.

An hour later, they were gorging on pepperoni pizza, barbecue wings, and a bottle of Pepsi. While he was eating, Eli tried to think of things other than the impending confrontation with Mo that could get ugly. What would he even say when it happened? 

_ ‘Hey man, I hooked up with your ex that I hated at Degrassi after like three nice conversations with her and we’re dating now. I know you want to get back with her, but she’s pretty over you. Sorry bro,’  _ he thought to himself and wanted to laugh out loud at how ridiculous it sounded already, but what could he do? He didn’t expect to fall for Marisol Lewis but he didn’t want to let her go.

Hopefully Mo would be able to understand.

* * *

The next morning, he was woken up by his phone vibrating by his bed stand.

As Eli reached over and picked it up, Marisol made a noise in her sleep but continued to sleep with a loud snore. She was sleeping on his bare chest, and she was also drooling on it a little. When Eli saw it was Imogen who was calling him, he sighed tiredly.

“Hello?” He answered groggily, wondering what excuse could she possibly have for waking him up at seven a.m. in the morning.

“Hello Elijah, good morning! How are you?” She greeted him cheerfully.

“Tired as shit, what about you?” He answered dryly.

“Well, I am on  _ air  _ this morning, and it’s only because your devious little scheme worked. Prom was amazing last night. Fifi and I talked and talked and  _ talked _ , and decided that neither of us are really over each other so we might as well start a new relationship!” She revealed to him, and he knew she was bouncing in excitement on the other end. Despite his brain still being numb from sleep, he was able to smile for her.

“That’s good Immy, I’m happy for you both,” he congratulated her. Imogen and Fiona may have sounded like an odd pair on paper, but somehow they just clicked together and he had never seen them as happy as they were when they were around each other. They were meant to be.

“Things between us got a little heated afterwards, and I’m still energized from it. It’s weird how we’re still in sync after not having sex with each other for so long,” she admitted.

“TMI,” he replied with a raised eyebrow.

“Well anyway,” she continued as if she didn’t hear him, “Since I have an extra ticket, Fiona will be at graduation this afternoon and I’m so excited we can be a trio again even for a short time!”

“Me too,” he agreed. He then cringed when Marisol started snoring extra loudly. Of course, his best friend was able to pick up on that immediately.

“Um...who’s that snoring in the background?” Imogen asked. He pinched Marisol’s nose to get her to stop. She began sighing softly instead.

“No one, it’s someone on my TV,” he lied, and was embarrassed at the fact that he just used the same lie twice with two different people in a span of around fifteen hours.

There was silence on the other line for a few moments, and he just knew Imogen didn’t believe him and was going to start investigating. Shit.

“Interesting, well I’ll let you go to start getting ready. See you at the ceremony, my darling friend! Arrivederci!” She said before ending the call. He put his phone back down on the stand and rubbed his face. He looked down at his girlfriend, who had a smile planted on her face. He was so worried right now about how her friend group was going to react to their relationship that he kept forgetting that he was scared of how  _ his  _ friend group was going to react as well.

_ ‘You’re making my life very complicated right now, Princess,’  _ he thought as he ran his fingers through her hair.

Honestly, though, was it really an Eli Goldsworthy relationship if it wasn’t complicated?

* * *

After the graduation ceremony was over, the seniors started taking pictures outside the school, and Eli was constantly tossed around between his friends. He took like ten pictures with Adam, five with Fiona and Imogen, and three with Dave. Even Becky wanted a picture with him. The way her parents looked at him, he could tell that they still despised him for committing the grievous crime of making Romeo and Juliet a gay musical about two boys. 

After the photo rush was over, he was watching his friends take pictures with their families when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and it was Clare, who flashed him a hesitant smile.

“Hi,” she greeted simply.

“Hey,” he greeted back, and it was crazy how awkward they were both coming off as right now when they were in a deep relationship not too long ago.

“I know this might be hard to ask, but can we take a picture together?” She requested.

“Sure….,” he accepted while getting into position. Clare held up her phone as they took some quick selfies together. 

“Thanks,” she told him in gratitude. “So...how are you these days?”

“Wonderful,” he answered. “So you’re taking a gap year or something?”

“I am,” she answered while nodding, “I don’t know what I want to do with my life yet, and I need time to figure it out on my own.”

“That’s valid. Does that mean you’re no longer with K.C.?” He questioned, not out of desire for her.

“No, we’re still going to be together. I’m just going to be here while he’s back up in British Columbia,” she denied quickly. “This time, I’ll try to make a long distance relationship work.”

“I hope it does work out for you guys, unlike the way it failed for us,” he replied, and he allowed himself to get a little sad even if he was no longer heartbroken over it.

“I don’t know what happened between us, Eli, but I’m sorry,” Clare apologized.

“What are you apologizing for? We simply fell apart and it happens. I was hurt for a while, yeah, but you moved on and I moved on so what’s the point of still crying over it. We always have the memories and we can still be friends,” he reassured her.

“You moved on? Into a new relationship?” She asked him in curiosity. He contemplated on whether or not he should tell her. Clare could possibly tell Adam, who could accidentally let it slip to Becky, who would then tell it to Imogen….

But then again, Clare was always good at keeping secrets even if it was at his expense. Especially if it was at his expense.

“Yeah,” he answered evenly.

“Who’s the lucky girl?”

“Marisol.”

Clare’s face shifted in surprise and her eyes comically bugged out in a way he had never seen before from her.

“ _ Lewis? _ ” She asked with her voice barely above a squeak.

“That’ll be the one,” he replied casually.

“So Jake wasn’t just high when he said that….,” she muttered to herself, and Eli narrowed his eyes in confusion.

“Said what?” He demanded of her, but then both of them turned their heads as the seniors started forming a conga line on the steps of Degrassi.

Clare turned to him with a sheepish smile. “I’ll see you later, Eli,” she said before running off to join her friends in the line. “Bye bye to Degrassi!” They all chanted repeatedly as they started dancing around the school.

Meanwhile, Eli was panicking in his mind.

* * *

Two days later, Marisol was lounging on her couch while watching the latest episode of Bad Girls Club. She was eating popcorn while enjoying her favorite trashy reality TV show. One of these days, she was going to make Eli watch it as she did with Owen and Mo.

Just as two of the cast-mates got into a fight, her doorbell rang. She put her bowl of popcorn down on the table and went to see who it was. It couldn’t have been Eli because he just started his shift at The Dot.

When she looked through the peephole, she gasped in shock before opening it.

Mo was outside her door with a huge smile on his face.

“Marisol!” He greeted enthusiastically before pulling her into a tight hug.


	9. Love Shoulda Brought You Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There’s a super intense sex scene that starts from “The last thing he needed to hear at that party was how great his girlfriend was at sex from other guys, and being reminded of what he should have been doing in the first place instead of going to the party, but he was about to rectify that right now,” to “ Marisol whimpered as she collapsed on the couch”. 
> 
> Song title is Love Shoulda Brought You Home by Toni Braxton.

She knew Mo was coming back to Toronto today, but she didn’t expect for him to show up on her doorstep like _this_.

“Mo, hey,” Marisol greeted awkwardly as he held her tightly in his embrace. Not too long, she would have been melting at the feel of being in his arms again but now she felt nothing but emptiness. After a minute, he finally let go and looked her up and down in desire.

“Don’t you look more gorgeous than ever,” he complimented.

“In a pair of sweatpants, a hoodie, a ponytail, and flip flops?” She asked while folding her arms. She personally thought she looked like crap right now. Her weave was at the end of its lifespan, her nails were popping off and the polish was chipping, and she still had bags under her eyes from sleeping. She was long overdue for a salon appointment and spa treatment, but she was waiting for Katie to come back so they could do it together.

“That’s when you’re the prettiest,” he replied sweetly. “Well? Aren’t you going to let me in?”

* * *

“I still can’t believe you took a bus all the way from New York to get her to take you back, only for Clare to actually dump you in person,” Fiona said when he told her the story of him and Clare’s final messy breakup. She was sipping on a tall, strawberry milkshake with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and cherries on top. Her hair was straightened and dyed blonde, which was certainly an unexpected sight when he picked her up from the airport yesterday morning.

“Yeah I was _beyond_ humiliated when I got back on that bus like you wouldn’t believe. I thought the whole world was laughing at me,” he replied, trying not to get too upset over the memory. He distracted himself by drinking the chocolate milkshake he made for himself on break.

“Ugh, I want to hit Clare Edwards with my purse. Where is the little witch?” She demanded lightheartedly while dramatically waving around said item.

“Riding off into the sunset with K.C. Guthrie,” he answered, “Trust me, Fi, it doesn’t bother me anymore. We’re on the path to being amicable exes now,” he added as a way to reassure her.

“Yeah well, me and Immy tried to be amicable exes and it didn’t work out,” she replied.

“That’s because you guys never got over each other, not even for a minute. I could see it in Imogen’s eyes while she was dating Jack that she was missing her favorite princess,” he pointed out.

“Really? I thought she might have moved on from me but I know now that I was wrong,” she said with a soft smile.

“Who could move on from the magnificent Fiona Coyne?” He remarked before they both chuckled at his words. Then his phone beeped in his pocket. He pulled it out and blanched at the text he got from Marisol.

“Mo is at my house” was the simple words she sent him, and those five little words were enough to want to make him clock out early and fly over to her house.

Noticing his face, Fiona looked at him in concern. “What happened?” She asked him.

“Nothing, nothing,” he dismissed while quickly shoving his phone back in his pocket.

“It doesn’t seem like nothing to me, Goldsworthy,” she replied while raising her eyebrows in suspicion.

“Just a text from my dad. He forgot to take my clothes out of the dryer,” he lied, and the look he got from Fiona told him she didn’t believe him. Were any of his friends going to believe his lies at this point?

“That sucks Eli….,” she told him with pursed lips, and he nearly crumpled under her tense gaze. 

Even after they went back to their conversation, she never lost that suspicious look in her eyes and Eli was nervous for the rest of his shift.

* * *

There could not have been a more uncomfortable reunion with an ex in history, well other than Katie and Drew reuniting on their plane trip to Vegas.

“Thank you, Mare. You know me so well,” Mo told her in gratitude as she gave him a bottle of blue gatorade from the fridge. She hated Gatorade so much but her mother loved it so she was forced to deal with it. When she was still dating Mo, she had the red flavor stored in in the fridge for him whenever he came over.

“You’re welcome,” she replied civilly while sitting down next to him on her couch. She then folded her arms. “I didn’t expect for you to show up here.”

“You were the first person I wanted to see,” he confessed to her.

“Me coming before Jake? That’s a rarity,” she replied coolly with a tinge of bitterness. She couldn’t help it. It was true.

Mo winced at her statement, but he still kept his big goofy smile. “Ouch, but I probably deserve it at this point. The whole time I was on the plane, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Mare, I’ve been missing you like crazy for the last couple of months and I regret how I ended things. I shouldn’t have dumped you over our lack of communication when we were both busy, I’m sorry,” he apologized.

“I’m glad you’re acknowledging that now, but what is the point of this?” She asked even though she had a pretty clear idea of what the point was. Eli told her everything Mo said over their Skype call.

“I want us to try again at another relationship. You were the perfect girl for me, and I’ll try harder to make things work,” he offered with pleading eyes.

A tiny part of her, a shameful part of her, was tempted to accept his offer and literally a month ago there was a strong chance she would have. This conversation could have led to them fucking on her couch because she was missing him like crazy as well at that point. She was missing everything about Mo back then: his smile, his hugs, his jokes, and his kisses. She deeply missed the sex as well because even though Mo was the least experienced out of any guy she’ve been with, before Eli he was the only one to make her feel special.

And that was the thing, she had Eli now. Even though they haven’t been dating long yet, she didn’t want to end their relationship over Mo. She was _happy_ right now and she wasn’t going to give that up just so Mo could dump her again over communication issues. She had a feeling that he came over here with the expectation of them having makeup sex on her couch but that wasn’t happening because they were done.

“Mo, I’m sorry but I moved on,” she rejected him, and she tried not to get sad at how fast his face fell at the statement. 

“Really? How?” He asked her in disbelief. 

“You dumped me in October. It’s eight months later and now you want to get back together after I’m finally letting go of you? Where were you when I spent Christmas sitting by an empty Christmas tree? I would have liked a Christmas miracle. Or New Years Eve, where I was drinking alone and crying at old pics of us? Or when I cried myself to sleep on Valentine’s Day because I had to see all of these lovey dovey couples at Little Miss Steaks and be reminded that _my_ valentine was no longer in my life?” She demanded of him, and she felt her voice getting higher with each question.

He looked crushed at her words, but she wasn’t done. “I cried, and cried, and cried over you for months, Mo, and you refused to talk to me when I begged you the first time to take me back. You broke me to the point there was a time where the only time I left my room was to shower, eat dinner, and go to work and _now_ you’re thinking of getting back together? No, what we had in high school was great but it wasn’t enough for you. You ended things between us, and I intend to keep it that way. You’re not going to come back here and think you can just swoop me off my feet and fuck me when you had me at my lowest point and didn’t care!” She exclaimed.

Mo’s lip trembled as if he wanted to cry, and she wanted to cry too right now because she couldn’t believe that things were this bad between them when a year ago at this time they were so in love with each other. 

He got off her couch and headed towards the door. She followed him to see him out. As he opened up the door to leave, he turned to look at her. 

“Marisol, I’m really sorry for everything. I hope you can forgive me someday,” he apologized to her sincerely.

“I already have, Mo. I just don’t want you anymore,” she replied flatly. He nodded before walking sadly down the front steps. She closed the door and locked it back up.

She then started crying.

* * *

When Eli saw Mo come into The Dot with red, tear-stained eyes, he knew Marisol had something to do with it. He wanted to be anywhere but here, but unfortunately Spinner wanted him to be his waiter.

“Mo, my man it’s been so long since I’ve seen you!” He greeted as enthusiastically as he possibly could in that moment. “You okay?” He asked his friend in concern even though he knew damn well why he isn’t.

“I’m fine, Eli. Just got something in my eye before I got here,” Mo answered as they clasped their hands together. “It’s good seeing ya! How’s it going?”

“It’s going,” Eli answered with a casual nod. “What would you like to start off with?” He asked while pulling out his notepad and pen.

“A Pepsi, and I already know what I want. I’ll take a big platter of buffalo wings and onion rings,” Mo ordered.

“Coming right up!” Eli told him before walking away to give Fitz the order. Inside, his mind was scrambling. As he fixed Mo’s drink, he could see his friend sniffling at the table. Whatever Mare said, it had to have been bad. 

When he got back to the table, that’s when Mo started to come out with what was making him upset. “I came over Marisol’s house like an hour ago to try to get back together with her and she turned me down. I can’t fucking believe it,” he complained.

“I’m sorry, Mo. That sucks,” he replied in sympathy.

“She told me all of this stuff about how I broke her when I dumped her, and had this look of utter coldness in her eyes. She hasn’t been this cold to me since _before_ we dated, Eli. I didn’t think she would be this mad at all!” Mo complained, and Eli bit his lip down to keep from saying anything that would reveal that he knew more about their breakup than he should.

The words “Maybe you need to give her some time” were on his lips but he knew he couldn’t say that either for obvious reasons. He honestly felt bad for Mo because he knew how he was feeling, and he was pretty much the reason Marisol ultimately got over him, but he couldn’t do anything about it. Well anything that didn’t require giving up Marisol.

“She was the first girl I fell in love with, the girl I lost my virginity to, and I thought I could live without her in my life but I’m not sure I can. But even if she told me she forgave me, I’m pretty sure she hates me,” Mo lamented.

“Well, maybe take this time to move on to some other girl. There’s a reason you broke up with her all those months ago, right? You guys weren’t connecting as well in university as you were in high school. It happens. Instead of trying to force another relationship, try at being her friend instead,” Eli advised, and he hoped Mo would listen to him instead of trying to fight him, because that would **not** be ideal at all.

“I guess,” his friend mused, “I hope she finds happiness, even if it’s with someone else. I just hope I can too.”

“I’m sure you can, Mo. You’re a great guy,” he complimented him.

“Thanks. Well Drew and Adam are throwing a graduation party tonight at their place, you coming?” Mo asked him.

“Definitely. Leaving Degrassi Community School is always a great occasion to celebrate, even if you already graduated,” Eli joked and the two of them laughed before Eli went to check on Mo’s food.

Maybe he was being too paranoid about all of this. Maybe Mo wouldn’t flip out when he finds out about him and Marisol.

* * *

“So are we getting Brazilian waxes when you get here?” Marisol asked Katie on the phone. She was in the bathroom of Little Miss Steaks and it was her break time.

“Hell no, that shit looks painful,” Katie dismissed.

“Please, you broke your ankle and cried over it in our senior year. Nothing can get worse than that,” Marisol argued.

“Yeah, and that’s not even the worst pain I’ve been through. Remember when you tried to give me a bikini wax with melted candles in junior high? I still have nightmares from that day,” her best friend replied.

“Come on, that was six years ago.”

“I _still_ have the burn mark from that! Jake was concerned the first time he saw it!”

“Well, what other spa treatment are we doing then? Besides the facials?”

“We can do aqua therapy and body polishes. Then we can get a mani pedi afterwards,” Katie offered her.

“Sounds great. I’ll book the appointment at the spa tomorrow. It should happen after our salon trip,” Marisol accepted.

“Cool. Next week can’t come fast enough.”

“I know. I’ll talk to you later, Katie-kins. I have to get back to work.”

“Later Mare-bear.”

As Marisol hung up on her friend, she exited the bathroom and walked towards the host table at the front of the restaurant. It was time to get back to work.

“Table twenty. There’s two girls,” Juan ordered her, and she simply nodded before grabbing two menus and walking towards her table.

The girls sitting at the table were none other than Imogen Moreno and Fiona Coyne, who were staring at each other with such intense heart eyes it was like they never broke up at all.

“Hey ladies, welcome back to Little Miss Steaks,” She greeted them both cheerfully.

“Marisol! Hey!” Fiona greeted back just as cheerfully.

“Hi,” Imogen greeted coldly. Marisol stiffened at the other girl’s tone. Imogen never liked her, and the feeling was mutual from her. She thought the other girl was an annoying freak since the moment they were forced to interact at freshman orientation. She was a bitch to her first, she had to admit, and she always went out of her way to be rude to her but Imogen smacked her in the arm with a textbook once. Okay, okay, she might have deserved that for showing around a video of her mentally ill father but how was she supposed to know that he had dementia? She just thought he was weird like his daughter.

She knew that she had to make peace with Imogen soon because she was one of Eli’s best friends, but the other girl might not want to make amends. _‘Can you blame her?’_ A voice in her head that sounded too much like Eli asked her critically.

“How are you guys this evening?” She asked them as she took out a notepad.

“Wonderful. We had a long-needed shopping spree together. I may have tons of clothes already back in Italy, but you can never have enough clothes,” Fiona answered while Imogen gave her a tense stare. “How are you, Marisol? How’s post-Degrassi life going for you?”

“Great. First year of university was rough, but I made it through and I’m just here to have a beautiful summer with my friends,” she answered back.

“I heard you and Mo broke up,” Imogen replied flippantly and Fiona flashed her a warning look. Marisol bit down a very rude response.

“We did. Things didn’t work out but I’m over it,” she confirmed, “It seems like you girls are back together though.”

“We are,” Fiona replied with a smirk.

“So what can I get you guys? Starting off with anything?” She asked them. Her customers looked at each other and shrugged.

“I’ll take a Dr. Pepper,” Imogen answered in a way that screamed that she couldn’t wait for her to fuck off.

“And I’ll have the Southern Sweet Tea and the cowboy platter,” Fiona added. Marisol nodded as she wrote down their orders. She left them to chatter amongst themselves.

Her cell phone buzzed in her pocket, which was most likely a text message. After she delivered the girls their drinks, Fiona’s cowboy platter, and took their dinner orders, she ran into the bathroom to check the message she got. The text message was from Eli. “ **I might not be able to come over tonight because of the party,** ” the message read and she frowned. She was looking forward to seeing her man tonight as always, especially after Mo made her cry earlier today, but the stupid Torres brothers had to ruin it. Well Adam was actually a sweet kid, but Drew….she was _so_ glad that that date between them in junior year went terribly. She no longer hated him for what he did to Katie, but he’ll always be an idiot to her. And now he was taking time away from her having sexy time with her Emo Boy. Ugh.

Eli’s text was enough to tank her mood for the rest of her shift.

* * *

So, maybe coming to this party instead of having sex with his girlfriend was a bad idea.

It was a typical party at the Torres residence, which meant there was a lot of drinking, abuse of the keg stand, arguing, games, knocking over objects, and vomiting in inappropriate places. Considering that it was nothing but guys here, the activities were much more intense. 

After a game of beer pong went haywire between a drunken Wesley and some random basketball player, him and several other guys retreated downstairs to talk shit about high school.

“Thankkkkk fuckkkkk we’re finally out of that hellhole,” Dallas commented as he took a deep swing of his can of beer. It was his fourth one.

“Yeah FUCK Degrassi. Worst place on planet earth!” Adam agreed with a goofy smile on his face. Even without the goofy smile, it was obvious his best friend was a little toasted from how rosy his cheeks were. Eli was pretty sure the only people in this circle of bros that were not at least a little bit tipsy were Dave, K.C., Jake, and himself. 

“It’s been a year and just hearing about the school alone still makes me want to smoke, and I don’t mean weed. I mean _cigarettes_ ,” Jake joked, “I don’t think I’ll ever _not_ cringe when I hear the word ‘polynomials’ now.”

“Christ, or just the sound of Mr. Perino talking. I hate that man with every part of me and I was so tempted to swing on him at graduation after I got my diploma. He’s the most miserable bastard I had the displeasure of knowing,” Drew grumbled.

“I’m pretty sure Ms. Oh still hasn’t forgiven me for finding her Facerange page and then showing up to class in my underpants,” Dave added.

“Shame you fucked it up with her so bad, because she’s the hottest teacher at Degrassi, well after Ms. Hatzilakos. I still miss her and it’s been almost five years since she transferred to another school,” Mo lamented.

“I’ll miss Coach Armstrong,” K.C. said, “I keyed his car and I’m pretty sure he knew it was me no matter what my mom said, but he never hated me despite that. The man is a forgiving soul.”

“Same, the man is an amazing coach,” Mo agreed. “Too bad the others are ass.”

“Now we can talk shit about the teachers, the coaches, the nasty ass lunches, and the constant drama, but you guys know what was great about Degrassi?” Dave asked them all. 

“The friends we made along the way?” Wesley asked back innocently before most of the guys sent him amused looks.

“No my man, the girls. Degrassi has the hottest girls on the planet and I’ll miss that for sure,” Dave answered before dramatically wiping his eyes.

“No lies there. I got the most beautiful girl by my side so that’s one thing that dumpster fire had given me,” Dallas agreed before sharing an awkward knowing look with Dave. Eli was reminded of the fact that pretty much everyone in the room dated or fucked a lot of the same girls with someone else. Dallas was currently with Alli, who dated Dave and Drew. Connor was with Jenna, who notoriously dated K.C. and had a baby with him. Somehow their friendship didn’t tank because of this. K.C. cheated on Jenna with Marisol, who had one bad date with Drew, then dated Mo, and who was now dating _him_ . K.C.’s first girlfriend was of course Clare, who he himself also dated and was pretty much in love with for the majority of his time at Degrassi. Clare also dated Jake after they broke up and became step siblings with him, and after _their_ relationship ended, Jake got together with Katie, who Drew also dated. Drew also dated two girls Adam crushed on first, and was currently back together with one of them. The only person in the room that didn’t share a Degrassi girl with anyone was Wesley.

 **Awkward**.

“I personally think I’m dating the most beautiful Degrassi girl, which is Clare Edwards,” K.C. argued, and Eli was surprised at himself for not wincing at that statement.

“Clare is pretty, I’ll give her that, but she doesn’t have that _spice_ that my Alli has,” Dallas replied while waving his beer around.

“I personally think Jenna is very nice to look at with her blonde locks, blue eyes, and ample bosom. Don’t you agree, K.C.?” Connor asked his friend, who gave him an uncomfortable smile.

“Yeah….,” K.C. replied.

“Hannah’s really pretty,” Wesley commented shyly.

“If the sun decided to one day make a person out of a literal ray of sunshine, that would be Becky Baker. She’s the hottest girl at Degrassi,” Adam argued.

“Yeah if you’re into fucking church girls who probably masterbate with a crucifix every night,” Dallas quipped, which made everyone except Adam laugh. His best friend pouted at the remark.

“Come on, guys, none of your girls are hotter than Bianca. She’s actual fire,” Drew challenged. “She could be a supermodel if she wants but she’s too badass for that.”

“Someone shut him up before he goes on a rant praising her again,” Adam muttered under his breath with an eye-roll.

“I was dating the hottest girl, and then I fucked everything up for the final time,” Mo said sorrowfully before chugging down some of his beer. Eli stiffened at the mention of Marisol, while the rest of the guys sent Mo sympathetic looks.

“I’m sorry man that sucks,” Dave replied, “Marisol was fine as hell.”

“She was the perfect girl and everything I could have asked for: beautiful, confident, and cool,” Mo lamented before chugging down the rest of his beer, “And a total _freak_ in bed.”

Eli didn’t like where this conversation was heading.

“I don’t know much about her but Owen told me she had the wettest pussy and gave out the _nastiest_ head,” Dallas said, “The kind that would have you moaning the whole time.”

“I thought deepthroating was a myth that was only in porn before I met her,” K.C. confirmed with a smirk. “She doesn’t even gag.”

“She can’t be better than B,” Drew challenged.

“Marisol is a soul sucker. I thought I was transcending to a higher plane of existence the first time she gave me a blowjob,” Mo reminisced while laying in the chair.

“Bruh, that’s the best kind,” Dave replied while grinning, and Dallas sent him a pointed look.

“Blowjobs sound gross. All of that unnecessary saliva,” Connor said with a shiver.

“You’re only saying that because you didn’t get one yet...or you didn’t meet Marisol Lewis,” Dallas replied with a smirk as several guys laughed.

“I think it’s time for me to leave,” Eli announced as he got out of his seat. 

“Really? The party is just getting started,” Adam replied with a frown.

“No, I'm pretty tired. Hope you guys have a great night,” he insisted as he waved them all goodbye and walked up the steps. All of the guys said bye except Jake, who had a suspicious glint in his eyes.

Eli ignored that for now.

* * *

The last thing he needed to hear at that party was how great his girlfriend was at sex from other guys, and being reminded of what he should have been doing in the first place instead of going to the party, but he was about to rectify that right now.

Eli pulled into the nearest parking spot in front of Marisol’s house and turned Bullfrog’s car off. As he unbuckled himself and got out of the car, he only had one thought in his mind.

He walked up her front steps and knocked roughly on the door, hoping she wasn’t asleep at this time of night. Well if she was, he was about to wake her up.

When Marisol opened up the door seconds after he knocked, he was a little surprised but didn’t let that show as he grabbed her and crushed his lips onto hers, closing the door behind them. “Errmmghm!” She exclaimed in shock but didn’t pull away from him. Their tongues connected passionately. He eventually pulled away, and shoved her against the door. It was then that he noticed that she was wearing a silk night robe. It had to go immediately. He ripped it apart and pulled it off, which revealed a silk night dress underneath.

Eli got on his knees in front of her, lifted her dress up, and pulled off her panties. He then lifted one of her legs over his shoulder as he licked at her clit. “Oh God!” She cried out. He slid his finger inside of her folds and pumped while eating her out. He eventually slid another finger inside when she was wet enough. It didn’t take long for her at all when he was pleasuring her like this. He transitioned from licking to sucking on her pearl.

She moaned repeatedly while bucking her hips, but he didn’t lose focus. After a few minutes, he brought her to an orgasm. She let out a scream as she came all his mouth, but he wasn’t done with her yet. He wordlessly got up and looked deep into her eyes. “Get on all fours on the couch **now** ,” he commanded gruffly.

“Okay…,” she accepted while nodding slowly. Before she could start walking, he grabbed her. “Take this off first,” he added while tugging at her dress. She pulled it off, revealing her very naked body. He grew hard just at the sight of it. He watched with hungry eyes as she walked over to the couch and got into position. He followed her while unbuckling his jeans. He got on the couch behind her and took a moment to admire how smooth her back looked in this position by rubbing it with his hand.

Pulling out his cock, he grabbed her hips and easily slid inside of her, making her moan again. As he started thrusting inside of her, he could hear her panting heavily. He quickly increased his pace, which caused her to bounce back on his dick. He reached around and pinched her nipple until it hardened under his touch. Though he loved it when she was on top and took control, when she was submissive like this it was the sexiest thing.

“Elijah...,” Marisol wantonly moaned out while throwing her head back in bliss. “Harder baby,” she begged, and he complied eagerly. He grunted while slamming deeper into her wet heat. She was perfect, so perfect, and in this state he couldn’t understand why anyone would give her up. Owen cheating on her, Drew rejecting her, K.C. dumping her, and Mo dumping her was all of their losses. Now she was his, and his only.

“Who’s pussy is this?” He asked her softly as sweat poured down his face. She moaned in response. “That’s not an answer,” he growled out as he slapped her ass. The sound rang through the air. “Who’s pussy is this?”

She refused to answer so he kept slapping her ass until she did, and each slap was rougher than the other. He had to smirk at how defiant she was. It only motivated him to fuck her harder. A part of him wanted to stop pumping until she did, but he was too far gone to pull out right now.

“YOURS!” She finally screamed out before cumming, with her walls spasming around his cock beforehand. He continued to fuck her through her orgasm until he pulled out of her and came all over her back. 

“Don’t you fucking forget it,” he snarled as he slapped her ass final time. _‘And nobody else for that matter,’_ he added to himself. He reached down, bit down at her neck, and sucked until it left a mark.

Marisol whimpered as she collapsed on the couch.

* * *

Well that was certainly some explosive sex from Eli she wasn’t expecting to have tonight but it was welcome.

“What was that all about?” Marisol asked her boyfriend while rubbing her sore neck. She was definitely going to feel this in the morning.

“The other guys were talking about you at the party. I got a little jealous,” he explained sheepishly. They were cuddling together on the couch under her blanket. 

“Clearly,” she replied. “What you have to reaffirm your claim on me and my pussy every time a guy talks about me now?”

“No, but sometimes I can get a little possessive. Sorry,” he apologized.

“A little, and only a little possessiveness is sexy, especially when you fuck me like you just did. But I’m not going to wake up handcuffed to your bed one day because a guy hit on me, am I?” She questioned him.

“Not unless you want me to,” he joked.

“Well since we’re now staking claims…,” she said before reaching down and grabbing his dick, “This is _my_ dick. Property of Marisol Lewis. No other chick can put her mouth on it,” she warned him.

“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t want any other mouths other than yours on it anyway,” he reassured her with a lazy smile.

“Good,” she purred before kissing him deeply on the lips. She started stroking him while they kissed.

When he got hard again, she lowered herself down….


	10. What You Won’t Do For Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter where things inevitably get tense.
> 
> Song title is What You Won’t Do For Love by Bobby Caldwell.

_ The Next Week _

At the airport, Marisol was waiting patiently at the baggage claim for Katie. She knew by the time, which was 8 am, that Katie’s flight had just arrived. She got up this morning and arrived at the airport an hour ago. While she knew she came way too early, she couldn’t help it. She was  _ beyond  _ excited to see her best friend after so long. She hasn’t seen her in person since Christmas break, and it would be an understatement to say she needed her right now.

Marisol was scrolling through her Twitter timeline when she heard a familiar voice call her name. “Mare!” The voice called. She looked and squealed in happiness when she saw it was Katie, who was carrying along a black duffel bag. 

“Katie-kins!” She exclaimed enthusiastically as she got off her seat and charged towards her BFF, who charged back. They met in the middle of the room and shared a tight hug. They also gave each other quick kisses on the cheek.

“I missed you so much, babe!” Marisol said while following Katie to get her suitcase. 

“Same!” Katie agreed as she picked up a black suitcase from the cart. They left the area and walked outside towards the parking lot. “I can’t believe I went this long without falling apart because you weren’t by my side,” she continued. Marisol wished she could say the same but it wasn’t true. Dealing with the worst breakup without Katie led to the worst depressive period in her life.

“Well it’s been a long six months, but now we have the whole summer,” Marisol replied as she thought of several activities they could do. Next month was her birthday, and she wanted to do something big but she didn’t know yet.

“What should we do first other than the hair and spa trips?” Katie asked her as they reached her car.

“Breakfast, I am  _ starving _ ,” Marisol replied dramatically as she opened the door to her car while Katie giggled.

* * *

Eli woke up with a feeling of dread in his stomach.

Today was the day that he and Marisol were going to come out with their relationship to ALL of their friends. Marisol was picking Katie up from the airport this morning and they were going out to dinner with Jake and Mo later. To say he was nervous was an understatement. He was actually really terrified.

Unfortunately despite his protests, Jake and Mo applied for jobs together at The Dot and both were set for an interview with Spinner next week. Considering that Spinner just fired one of the line chefs for burning a spoon in the bathroom and one of the waiters for punching a customer in the face over hockey, there were open spots for both of them.

As he got off his bed and walked into the bathroom to get ready, he thought of a million different ways to tell Mo that he was dating Marisol, but none of them were going to make the other guy happy. Ever since he came back, Mo has been moping over Marisol despite his advice to try to move on. Jake tried to brighten up Mo’s attitude with weed but it wasn’t working. Mo missed Marisol.

Unfortunately, it was going to remain that way.

* * *

“So, how was your flight?” Marisol asked as she whirled a spoon in her tea to mix the tea and sugar. Her and Katie were at a restaurant for breakfast. Since she was so excited to have her BFF back, she was going to pay for both of them.

“Not bad at all. I was able to sleep the whole time,” Katie answered as she sipped a cup of coffee. “The whole time I was thinking of Jake.”

“Ooh, I think the sparks are gonna reignite between you two,” Marisol replied with an encouraging smile. She  _ really  _ wanted Katie and Jake to get back together. She had been supporting the idea of them since Katie took him to movie night, and she took it as a personal victory when she got them to finally hook up. When they broke over the incident in Vegas, she was very hurt for them both, especially since it made everyone in their friend group miserable.

“I hope so. The dinner tonight will decide if we can get back to where we were before everything went to hell,” Katie replied with a nervous tone in her eyes.

“Don’t worry about it, girl. You and Jake are going to get back together and be better than ever,” Marisol reassured her.

“That’s the dream,” her best friend replied, “So what happened with Mo last week?”

“He came to my house and asked if we could get back together, and I shot him down,” she answered with a shrug. She cried after Mo left only because she was finally able to let out her frustrations with their breakup to him. He now knew how much he hurt her. Once he left, it was like a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders.

“Wow….you’re really over him, aren’t you?”

“I am. It hurt for so long, but I’m finally free. I don’t need Mo Mashkour and hopefully he recognizes that.”

Their waiter came by with their food, which was a plate of french toast with powdered sugars and strawberries for her and a plate of pancakes for Katie. They took a few minutes to eat their food before they started talking again.

“So we’re hitting the nail salon first, right?” Katie questioned.

“Yup, then the spa, and then the hair salon. I have it allllll planned out for us,” Marisol answered while drinking the last of her hot tea.

“I still don’t know what color I’m getting,” Katie replied as she popped a piece of her pancake in her mouth with a fork.

“Well, what was Jake’s favorite nail color on you?” She asked.

“Black,” her friend answered.

“Then get that,” Marisol replied as she took a bite out of one of the tasty French toast slices. “Gotta grab his attention. I’m thinking of getting acrylics again. I like wearing them.” 

“I just don’t know how you can do anything in them,” Katie said.

“You just manage. It’s not like I get them super long anyway,” Marisol answered with a shrug. While she didn’t like acrylic nails much in high school other than French tips, she realized she liked how they looked on her fingers, especially the cute ballerina tips. Acrylic nails were super fancy compared to regular ones and she liked choosing which elaborate design she was getting next.

The fun part was that Eli offered to pay for her manicure and pedicure today, but he had one unfortunate condition.

She had to get black-colored nails.

* * *

_ Last night  _

_ After another wonderful lovemaking session, Eli was cuddling with his girlfriend underneath the covers of his blanket while on his couch. Marisol was laying on his chest while he ran his fingers through her hair. _

_ “That was amazing as always, Eli,” Marisol said. _

_ “Has sex with me ever NOT been amazing for you at this point?” He asked with a smirk, and she smirked back before they shared a sensual kiss. _

_ “You’re such an arrogant man,” Marisol replied. _

_ “Gets you wet though,” he countered. _

_ “No it doesn’t,” she denied half-heartedly. They both knew it was true, and he reveled in it. _

_ “It’s true. Marisol Lewis gets wet by her boyfriend boasting about how he’s the hottest fuck she ever had because it’s true. I, Eli Goldsworthy, has his girlfriend soaking just by talking about how he’s gonna fuck her until she can’t walk nearly every night,” he bragged. _

_ “What am I going to do with you, Eli?” She asked with an eye roll. _

_ “Continue fucking me, duh,” he answered like it was the most obvious thing.  _

_ “It’s clearly going to your head,” she pointed out. _

_ “I’m in the mood for giving you  _ **_more_ ** _ head right now,” he fired back. _

_ “I think you have an addiction.” _

_ “Why wouldn’t I when you taste so good?” _

_ He could see that Marisol was struggling not to laugh at their banter, but was failing. _

_ “So let’s talk about how you keep leaving scratch marks on my back with your nails,” he brought up as he held up his girlfriend’s hands. All of her fake nails have popped off at this point but he still felt a tinge of pain when she raked his back during missionary, and he knew it looked like a scratching post right now. In the heat of the moment it felt good but afterwards….. _

_ “Sorry, I get caught up in the moment,” she apologized, and they both knew she was probably going to do it again.  _

_ “Well until you learn the difference between using your fingertips and not your actual nails, we will cutting be down on the missionary activity until you get a hold of that, ma’am,” he told her while she rolled her eyes in response, “In the meantime, you’re getting your nails done with Katie tomorrow, right?”  _

_ “Yeah, why?” She asked. _

_ “Well, if I paid for them, would you get them any style or color I want?” He questioned. She tilted her head quizzically. _

_ “What do you have in mind?” _

_ “Black and claw-shaped,” he answered with a sheepish smile. _

_ “Of course. Why did I even ask?” She replied dryly. _

_ “I think it would look sexy on you,” he argued. _

_ “Be honest, Eli, you would find anything dark and goth on me, sexy,” she challenged. _

_ “Because I know you can pull it off,” he complimented her. “Please get them for me? I want nothing else for now,” he pleaded while giving her his best puppy dog look. He even pouted for her, and he never did that once in his life. She sighed. _

_ “Fine, my Emo Bear. I’ll gladly take your offer,” she accepted. He smiled sweetly before kissing her. _

_ “Thanks, babe,” he replied excitedly. _

* * *

At the nail salon, after telling the worker what she wanted, Marisol quickly went to the side of the salon where the nail polish bottles were at with Katie. She scanned the gel polish section until she found two black bottles. One was a solid color while the other had a sparkly finish. She picked them both up with her hand.

Katie looked at her in confusion as she also picked out a black bottle. “Black? You, Mare?” She asked her in disbelief.

“I figured I needed to try something new,” she answered and she knew it sounded weird. When she wasn’t getting french manicures, she was usually getting pastel colors. Black was something she never got before and she was nervous on how it was going to look on her. Luckily, for her toes, she didn’t need to wear black in case it turned out ugly. She picked out a lavender bottle for them.

She handed the bottles to the worker as her and Katie then walked to the back of the salon and sat in chairs to get pedicures. As the salon workers got to work washing their feet, Katie unfortunately decided to start interrogating her.

“I’m glad I’m back for the summer because right now, you’ve been worrying me, Mare,” Katie said.

“Why? Katie, I’m fine. I am no longer suffering from bad breakup syndrome and I’m getting my groove back,” Marisol assured her while reading a makeup magazine. 

“Well you know me, I tend to worry. Especially when my best friend keeps cutting my calls off quickly or not answering them at all,” Katie replied.

“I’m sorry, okay? I have three months to make it up to you,” she said out of exasperation. She didn’t  _ intend  _ to ignore Katie’s calls, texts, or end their phone calls to late but Katie had a bad habit of calling her while she was having sex with Eli.

“Yeah, you do,” Katie agreed before relaxing in the chair.

Marisol sighed as she wondered how her friend was going to react when she told her the news tonight.

Katie’s reaction was going to be something for sure.

* * *

Eli was sitting at a table outside The Dot as he waited for his friends to come. He was extremely anxious about what he was about to do.

Fiona and Imogen were the first to come, and they walked hand-in-hand as they approached him.

“Hi, Eli!” They greeted him at the same time, and he was surprised at how it really seemed like things never changed between them. Looking at them now, one wouldn’t realize that they just got back together after being a year broken up.  _ ‘Well, that’s what happens when you’re with someone you’re actually in love with,’  _ he mused. He wondered how people looked at him and Marisol. Did it look like they liked each other...or falling in love?

“Sup girls,” he greeted back as they sat down across from him. He wasn’t going to order anything heavy since he was going to that seafood buffet later. “How are things?”

“Another day, another day at a boutique,” Fiona answered with a pleased sigh.

“What do you girls do other than shop and watch romance movies?” He asked them in amusement.

“Have sex,” Imogen answered honestly, only to get lightly elbowed by Fiona.

“Immy!” Fiona scolded lightly.

“What? He asked,” his friend replied with a shrug.

“I don’t want to hear about sex I’m not participating in,” Eli said to her with a weary look.

“Oh, would you like to participate in a threesome with us one day? Fiona and I decided that we would like to get more experimental this second time around,” Imogen jokingly offered while Fiona wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. He rolled his eyes at the suggestion.

“No thank you, Im,” he rejected, and she pouted in response.

“You are no fun, Elijah. How are we friends?” She asked.

“Well it all started junior year when I smashed a computer and you covered for me by jumping to the ground and getting a nose bleed….”

“Hey guys!” Adam greeted cheerfully as he walked up with Becky by his side. His girlfriend waved at everyone enthusiastically as they sat down next to him. “Hope you don’t mind Becky being here,” he added while looking at him.

“Even if I did, you would have brought her anyway if she asked,” Eli replied. For someone who used to tease him about being whipped by Clare, Adam sure was whipped by Becky Baker. 

“True,” his best friend admitted. “So what’s the purpose of us all being here?”

“Simple. I have something to tell all of you,” he answered. He watched as everyone around the table leaned in expectantly. “I found someone.”

“Really? Congrats, Eli!” Becky congratulated him.

“Who’s the lucky girl? Or unlucky girl?” Fiona asked him jokingly. Eli took a deep breath before answering.

“Marisol Lewis,” he revealed and watched as promptly everyone looked at him like he had just revealed that he was the Anti-Christ instead.

“What?” Fiona asked in utter confusion while furrowing her eyebrows.

“You heard that right,” he answered while tapping his fingers on the table.

“Mo’s girlfriend. Katie Matlin’s best friend. School president. Queen Bee. Wicked Witch of Degrassi?” Adam asked him.

“That’ll be the one,” he confirmed.

“That’s interesting. Of all people…,” Becky remarked levelly.

The look on Imogen’s face screamed that she was not pleased. “Marisol? The girl that practically bullied me in high school? You’re joking,” she sharply said, and he winced at her angry tone.

“Well….,” he tried to explain, but she wasn’t going to hear it.

“The girl who helped frame me for the senior prank?”

“She wasn’t the only one.”

“The girl who filmed a video of my dad with dementia to show it to her boyfriend? If I recall, you were there when she did that.”

“To be fair, she didn’t know your dad had dementia, she thought he was just weird.”

His friend bristled at his excuses. “How could you even want to be with someone like that when she’s against everything you stand for?” She questioned him.

“Because she’s changed, Imogen. She’s no longer awful,” he argued.

“Really? Because from what I’ve seen at Little Miss Steaks last week, she is still a shallow, air-headed bitch,” she replied venomously.

“She’s not. She’s deeper than that and I can prove it to you. I can prove it to all of you,” he challenged. 

“What kind of spell has she bewitched you with? Have you been hexed? Is she blackmailing you?” Imogen asked.

“No!” He answered sharply. “I’m dating her with a sound mind and of my own free will. If you calm down right now, I’ll tell you how this happened.”

“I don’t think I want to know how my friend lost his mind and started shacking up with one of my high school enemies,” Imogen turned down swiftly. He looked to Fiona for help. She was the more rational between her and her girlfriend, and she and Marisol actually got along after the fall semester of their senior year. She folded her arms before speaking out.

“Well, let’s hear him out. It has to be an interesting tale if our precious emo theatre nerd is dating the queen bee cheerleader,” Fiona said as everyone focused on him again. While Imogen was steaming in her seat, Adam and Becky were looking at him in genuine curiosity. He took another deep breath before beginning to speak.

“It all started a few weeks ago while I was on my shift here….”

* * *

Marisol’s phone rang while she sat under the dryer. Katie was in the back of the hair salon getting her hair washed by one of the stylists. While she was getting a whole new sew in weave, Katie opted to get a simple curling job.

After they left the nail salon, they spent the next three hours getting a luxurious spa treatment at a new spa place. It was absolutely wonderful, and combined with her set of black nails, Marisol was feeling like a new, better version of herself. The body scrubs she and Katie got were amazing, and the massages they received felt so good she was moaning the whole time. Marisol pulled her phone out of her pocket and answered when she saw who it was.

“Babe?” She answered the call while keeping her eye out for Katie. This was kinda a bad time but at least Katie couldn’t overhear right now.

“Yeah, you have some work to do with getting my friends to like you, especially Imogen,” he warned her.

“How did she react?” She asked in concern, although she probably knew the answer.

“Not well at all. She thinks you have me under some kind of enchantment,” he replied flatly. She smiled thinly in response as that was all she could do. She saw it coming. 

“An expected reaction from her,” she said.

“Look, while I don’t  _ need  _ my friends’ approval to date you, it would be nice for them to no longer be disgusted with just the mere mention of your name so I’m going to need you to be on your best behavior when we’re all hanging out,” he ordered her.

“You don’t have to worry about that, Eli. I’m over high school shit, and I’m going to do my best to make amends with Imogen. Fiona and I get along well enough already so she won’t be much work anyway,” she accepted. “Now I’ll talk to you later, bye,” she said before ending the call.

She wasn’t scared of Imogen Moreno, but she did want the girl to stop hating her so for Eli’s sake she was going to be good to her.

It was funny how he could already get her to do whatever he wanted.

* * *

Later that day, he was sitting on the couch while numbly watching some shitty horror movie.

He didn’t want to be, but due to today’s earlier events, he was stressing out even more over the upcoming dinner with Marisol, Katie, Jake, and Mo. He knew his friends were going to be uncomfortable over him dating Marisol, but he still didn’t expect Imogen to blow up the way she did. She really had an axe to grind with his girlfriend.  _ ‘I mean Marisol WAS an asshole to her but I didn’t think Imogen would still have open wounds from their beef,’  _ he thought to himself and maybe he sounded like an idiot right now.

When he heard the honk from Marisol’s car outside, Eli felt his anxiety raising up. With great reluctance, he got off his couch and walked outside to get in his girlfriend’s car. She was waiting for him with an encouraging smile on her face, and he noticed her new look immediately. She had long, black hair styled in tiny, bouncy curls and her nails were long, claw-shaped, and painted black as he wanted with a glittery finish on each ring finger. She wore black lip gloss on her lips with grey eyeshadow and he could tell that she was wearing a black mini dress with a floral print. The dress had a zipper in the front that went all the way down.

It was _hot_.

In the passenger side of Marisol’s convertible was Katie Matlin, who’s hair was no longer dyed black and back to its natural ginger color. He guessed she had the same idea as him to tone down her edgy phase after high school. He could tell that she was confused as hell as to why he needed to come to dinner tonight.

“Hey girls,” he greeted cheerfully as he got into the back of the car.

“Hey Eli,” Marisol greeted back with a slight purr in her voice. It pained him that he couldn’t kiss her right now, especially when she was looking so sexy.

“Hi, Eli. How’s it been since graduation?” Katie turned around and asked him politely as he buckled himself in.

“Great. First year at NYU had its ups and downs but I finished it off on a high note,” he answered while Marisol drove.

“I can say the same about Stanford. Even though we were warned about university so many times, it feels like we still weren’t prepared for everything,” she replied.

“Yeah, they didn’t warn us about all of the panic attacks we were going to get and the all-nighters,” he said.

“Or the kind of roommates we were going to get,” she added.

“Oh definitely not that,” he quipped as he immediately thought of J.J.

“Well I don’t have to deal with roommates, just myself,” Marisol boasted.

“Good for you, Princess,” he replied sarcastically while Marisol giggled.

“So, it’s interesting how you guys became such good friends over the past month,” Katie mentioned, and he could hear the suspicion in her tone. A tight feeling grew in his stomach. He and Katie didn’t interact much by themselves; Most of the time they were only interacting if Jake and Clare were there with him. He didn’t know what Katie really thought of him and how she would react to him dating her best friend. Would she flip him over a table or something?

“Well, after a few nice conversations and her giving me a nice tip, I decided she wasn’t the worst after all,” he answered as casually as he could. _‘And after I dreamed about her giving me the hottest blowjob I ever had in my life,’_ he thought to himself with a smirk. He didn’t know how to ask her but he really needed for her to act out that dream someday.

“I thought the same of him. Him making me a nice cookies n’ cream milkshake when I came in one night helped too,” Marisol said.

“I’m the best milkshake maker at the Dot clearly,” he boasted as Marisol giggled again. He honestly loved making her giggle because the sound of it was too adorable.

“If you say so,” she teased.

“You know so,” he replied.

He could see Katie nodding slowly at their responses, as if she was noting something in her head. “Cool,” she replied. He gave her a tense smile in response.

“Well I don’t know about you guys but I’m excited to have some amazing seafood with friends, especially at Captain Morgan’s,” Marisol said cheerfully, “I’ve been craving crab legs and I heard theirs are the bomb.”

“I heard the same about the stuffed crab cakes. They practically melt in your mouth. I can’t wait to try them,” Katie agreed.

As the girls talked about the restaurant, Eli drowned them out with thoughts of how bad this night could turn out.

The best outcome that absolutely was not going to happen was everyone happily congratulating them and moving on.

The worst outcome that probably was going to happen was Mo knocking his lights out with one punch.

* * *

Well Captain Morgan’s Seafood Buffet was clearly a very popular place as she saw a line outside the restaurant as soon as she pulled up. Luckily, she booked reservations or they would have been screwed.

“This must be a busy day for the place,” Eli reasoned as she drove around the back of the restaurant until she found a parking spot.

“I think every day is busy for them,” she replied in amusement as she turned her car off. Just then, Jake pulled up beside her in his truck. Mo was on the passenger side. The boys then stepped out the same time she did.

“Jakey!” She greeted excitedly, as she ran to hug her friend. He hugged her back, but his eyes were all on Katie, who stood awkwardly without knowing what to do. Marisol pulled away from her friend to signal her other friend to approach him.

“Hi Jake,” Katie greeted politely as she shyly stepped forward to him.

“Katie, it’s been too long,” Jake greeted back enthusiastically, but did not move at all. The exes were just staring at each other. Marisol rolled her eyes. She was  _ so  _ tired of this.

“Come on, guys. Hug,” she ordered them while putting her hands on her hips. “Now,” she added with a stronger tone, and they obeyed her orders. She watched in amusement as Katie and Jake shared a quick hug before pulling away just as quickly. 

“Hey guys,” Eli greeted as he cheerfully shook hands with Jake and Mo.

“How’s it going?” Jake asked.

“It’s going,” her boyfriend replied casually as they all walked towards the entrance. Considering that she was the one who booked the reservation, it was on her to lead the pack.

“Marisol, you look gorgeous tonight,” Mo complimented her, and she gave him a polite smile in response. 

“Thank you,” she replied civilly in gratitude. She hoped it would be the end of the compliments from her ex,especially after tonight.

“Never thought you would be into so much black,” Jake pointed out while looking at her outfit.

“I mean I’m black so why not?” She joked as everyone laughed. In reality, this was her way of announcing that she was dating Eli Goldsworthy, who was struggling not to stare at her in a way that would make their friends suspicious. She knew it would be a turn on for him. She allowed herself to smirk for two seconds as they entered the restaurant.

The smell of seafood was strong outside the restaurant, but inside it was hitting her nostrils in a good way. Her stomach rumbled in hunger. She couldn’t wait to eat.

“Lewis, party of five,” she told the hostess as she walked up to the desk. The woman nodded as she led them to a booth on the side of the restaurant. It was a good thing she booked a reservation in advance because showing up at the restaurant at this time would guarantee a two hour wait time at the minimum.

The entire buffet place inside was themed like the inside of a pirate ship with elaborate sea-themed decorations everywhere. Classical music played in the background while people lined up at the food tables.

When they all sat down, she sat next to Eli. Katie sat on the other side of her while Jake and Mo sat together across from them. A waiter came by, took their drink orders, and left to attend to another table.

“Woo, it’s time for me to stack my plate up with some crab legs and lobster tails. I’m also thinking of some steak to make it a nice surf and turf. Coming Mo?” Jake offered as he got out of his booth. 

“Lobster tails? You bet your sweet ass I am!” Mo answered cheerfully while following Jake to one of the food sections. Katie got out of the booth as well.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll watch everyone’s stuff until one of you guys come back,” Marisol told her friend.

“And I need to check something on my phone for a minute,” Eli added. Katie nodded before walking off. It was only her and Eli for a moment.

“This is gonna be fun,” Eli said in a sarcastic tone of voice.

“It needs to be done, and what better way to soften the blow than with delicious seafood?” She asked.

“I know one thing, after this, I’m unzipping your dress myself tonight,” he replied lustfully.

“I’m surprised you’re in the mood to be horny right now considering you’ve been panicking over this confrontation for awhile,” she pointed out to him.

“I may be anxious as shit right now, but the idea of ravishing my girlfriend while she’s wearing my favorite color is keeping me from having a mental breakdown,” he explained while running his hand up her thigh. When he reached her panties, he rubbed her clit through the material. She bit her lip down in arousal. “Is it satin that I’m feeling right now?” He asked her.

“Yes,” she answered as she felt her body heat up. He then looked down at her breasts.

“You’re not wearing a bra,” he realized.

“I’m not,” she confirmed nonchalantly.

“What am I going with you, you devious little minx?” He asked.

“What you’ve been doing this whole time,” she answered again, then shivered as Eli leaned into her ear.

“The things you do to me, Princess....one day I might actually just handcuff you to my bed,” he whispered huskily to her.

“You may be surprised at how good of an idea that sounds to me,” she replied seductively while squeezing his leg.

“Good to know,” he said with a smirk as they shared a quick kiss.

* * *

They’ve only been here an hour but Eli was already on his second plate because the food was that damn good. He normally wasn’t a huge fan of buffet joints, but the seafood here was top tier. There was a wide variety of dishes available, and there was even a sushi bar. He was happy to pay the thirty-five dollars when the bill came because the price was worth it.

While he was wolfing down a plate of clams, scallops, fried oysters, and fried jumbo shrimps, every so often he would look at Marisol while she ate. Once again, his girlfriend proved herself to be a huge eater as not only was she eating on a big cluster of crab legs, but a jumbo crab cake, two corn on the cobs, several mussels, and a scoop of garlic mash potatoes. Plus, she had a small bowl of crab soup beforehand. Before she ate each crab leg, she would dip it in a cup of hot melted butter before she would suck out the crab meat out of its shell. It was weirdly sexy to him.

_‘She wasn’t lying at all when she said she loved her some seafood,’_ he thought to himself in amusement. On their second date, she told him that crab legs were her second favorite food after loaded cheese fries. He wouldn’t be surprised if she got a second cluster after this. 

The conversation everyone was having while eating was relatively light-hearted, except for Jake and Katie’s awkward small talk. He was getting secondhand embarrassment from watching them interact. It reminded of how him and Clare were acting before they got back together his senior year. But other than that, everything was peaceful as they reminisced about high school and talked about university.

Until Marisol decided that now was ample time to say something.

“Alright, everyone, Eli and I have an announcement to make,” she began while she primly wiped her mouth with a napkin. Everyone’s attention was now on them. He smiled nervously as Mo looked at them in confusion.

“You guys are probably wondering why we’re friends all of sudden after we spent all of high school hating each other. Well, a few weeks ago, one conversation we had at The Dot while he was serving me changed everything. He let me vent about a bad breakup I was going through, and in return I did the same when he showed up at Little Miss Steaks the next night. Through talking, we realized that the perceptions we had of each other were wrong, feelings were quickly developed, and now we’re dating, yay!” Marisol confessed with a sheepish smile while grabbing his hand. They then smiled together at their friends.

There was dead silence around the table as Katie, Jake, and Mo looked at them with various looks of shock. Jake’s mouth dropped completely as he looked rapidly between the two of them. Katie’s eyes were wide as saucers, and Mo....his reaction was the scariest as his eyes slowly started to narrow. Jake then decided to break the silence.

“Really? Congratulations, guys,” he said while smiling politely.

“Thanks,” Eli replied in gratitude.

“So you were lying to me this whole time,” Mo accused him, and Eli felt himself starting to sweat. The atmosphere around them suddenly got tense and everything felt cold to him.

“Well....”

“That really was Marisol in the background during our Skype confession last week, wasn’t it?” Mo interrogated him. He took a small gulp before answering.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that-“

“I’ve been crying to you and Jake about how much I missed Marisol, and how I want us to get back together, and you mean to tell me that you’ve been  _ FUCKING _ her behind my back while lying about it?” His friend furiously asked again, causing several people around them to start staring due to his loud tone. Well, this was the last thing anyone needed.

“It wasn’t behind your back! I didn’t intend for this to happen!” Eli argued.

“What you accidentally slipped inside of her or something?”

“Wait hold on, you guys are not going to talk about me as if I’m an object,” Marisol cut them off in annoyance.

“Oh, I have words for you too, Mare. Of all the people you choose to move on from me with, you picked one of my friends?” Mo asked her, and she glared at him in response.

“I didn’t know I needed your permission to date Eli. I didn’t expect to grow feelings for him, it just happened because he was there for me after you broke my heart and stomped it into pieces,” she replied with a scowl.

“So you decided to break mine by fucking one of my friends?”

“A guy you didn’t talk to until like three months before graduation. Give me a fucking break.”

“Well, how would you like it if I fucked Katie to move on from you?” He asked while pointing at Katie.

“Don’t involve me in this,” Katie commented quickly.

“Oh please, like you really care when Jake told me you rebounded with some girl immediately after we broke up. What happened there? She wasn’t giving you what I gave you, eh?” Marisol fired back with a bitter laugh. “At least I waited several months before moving on.”

“Guys, please stop. Everyone is staring at us,” Jake begged while looking around uncomfortable. Everyone in the buffet was indeed staring at them because nothing was more interesting than drama.

“Whatever, I’m going to the bathroom,” Mo snapped as he got up and stormed off.

“Let me follow him to help him calm down,” Jake said as he got up as well to find Mo, leaving just him, Marisol, and Katie. Marisol’s best friend folded her arms while staring at them tensely.

“That phone call we had weeks ago? Where you said you just came back from a morning jog? That wasn’t a morning jog after all, wasn’t it Mare?” Katie questioned Marisol, who shifted in her seat uncomfortably. Eli remembered that phone call. He was fucking Marisol from behind while she was talking to Katie, and while it was funny at the time, now it was awkward.

“No, it wasn’t,” she confirmed.

“You had me worrying about you for days because I thought something was up, and it was just you and Eli having a secret relationship. Why didn’t you tell me then?” Katie demanded.

“Because that’s not the kind of news I wanted to give over the phone, Katie. You needed to know this in person,” Marisol explained as her friend scoffed lightly.

“Well, look what it started,” Katie pointed out while waving her arm around. While most people went back to eating amongst themselves, some people around the restaurant were still looking at them. 

“It’s not my fault that Mo wanted to cause a commotion,” Marisol replied sharply. “And if he cries himself to sleep tonight, that’s not my problem. He’s no longer my priority.”

Katie turned her towards him now, and Eli felt like he was being put on trial. “You were deeply in love with Clare, and now you’re with Marisol? You guys couldn’t stand each other, how did this happen?” She asked him.

“Marisol already told you. We made a connection, and everything just happened. This wasn’t planned at all,” he answered defensively. “Clare has moved on, why shouldn’t I? We’ve only been together a short time of time but I care a lot about your best friend and she makes me happy.”

“You guys are really serious about this,” Katie replied in shock as she looked between them.

“Yeah,” Marisol said as she squeezed his hand tightly. “We’re really into each other,” she added while looking at him softly. He allowed himself to smile at her.

“I guess there’s nothing more to say than congrats to you guys,” Katie said to them both. Just then Jake and Mo came back, and Mo still looked super pissed. It was probably going to be like that for quite a bit.

His friend took out some bills and slapped it on the table. “Here, here’s my portion of the bill. Jake and I are out of here, good night everyone,” Mo announced coldly before he left. Jake awkwardly waved them all goodbye before leaving with him.

“Well that went horribly,” Eli remarked as him, Marisol, and Katie shared looks of discomfort. There was a few minutes of awkward silence.

Then Marisol grabbed Mo’s uneaten lobster tail, put it on her plate, and started eating on it herself along with the rest of her food. “What? I don’t know about you guys but I’m definitely getting my money’s worth tonight,” she argued when she noticed him and Katie looking at her.

Him and Katie then looked at each other, shrugged, and then went back to eating their own food.

There was no point to stop eating when he wasn’t even full yet.

* * *

As promised, Eli unzipped the front of her dress as soon as they got inside her house after dropping Katie off. As they then proceeded to make love on her couch, Marisol tried not to let Mo’s outburst over her and Eli dating get to her. She wasn’t going to lie; She was hurt by Mo’s anger. She could get why he was upset at the idea of her and his friend dating, but he hurt her on a deeper level than she did him so she felt he didn’t deserve to be upset. What right did he have to get mad at who she was dating now when they haven’t spoke to each other in seven months? 

The world kept spinning after he dumped her, and she spun right into Eli Goldsworthy’s warm embrace.

“You think he would ever forgive me?” Eli asked her while softly running his hand along her bare body. Sometimes, it was his smallest touches that felt good the most. It was probably due to the feel of his calloused hands over her soft skin.

“If he does, great. If he doesn’t, oh well,” she answered with a shrug. However as nonchalant as she acted over the idea of Mo being permanently angry at them, a part of her still wanted to be civil with him for Jake’s sake. If Jake and Katie got back together, her and Mo would be the weak links of their friend group when previously that was Katie and Mo. She wasn’t looking forward to that level of awkward.

“I think he’s going to need some time alone to come to terms with it,” Eli suggested as he directed his attention to rubbing her stomach instead. For some reason that action felt more....different than usual but she didn’t know why.

“Well it’s not our problem if he doesn’t. He not only threw away our relationship but our friendship as well,” she replied bitterly.

“I know, but Mo is a pretty cool guy. It’s gonna suck not talking to him,” he said. 

“So what would you dump me to make it up to him?” She asked him in suspicion. She learned a harsh lesson about how deep a bromance can run at the expense of a relationship twice because of Mo. If she learned it a third time, she was going to personally make sure the next guy she dates doesn’t even know he exists.

“Absolutely not if it means losing you,” he answered swiftly.

“Good,” she replied as she turned her head over to look at him.

They kissed deeply as a candle burned in the background.


	11. Piece of My Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m just going to push the theory that Eli’s family is secretly rich starting from this chapter because how else would he afford a freaking horse carriage for Clare’s prom and a NYC apartment? 
> 
> There’s some smut in this chapter starting from “After his shift was over....” to “Did I ever tell you how dangerous you are?”
> 
> Finding a song for this chapter was rough but I ultimately chose Piece Of My Love by Guy.

_A few days later_

“Where are you guys taking me?” Eli asked his parents as they led him around blindfolded. As soon as he woke up, his parents were right there with the blindfold and demanded he come with them immediately. He barely got time to wake his mind up, and he was still a little tired.

“Just wait, kid,” Bullfrog answered cheerfully in response. He decided to say nothing more as clearly neither of his parents were going to answer the question. He was in for a surprise. Hopefully it was a great one.

He heard the front door being pulled open, and the hot summer air hit him immediately as he was dragged outside. Suddenly, his parents stopped walking. “Alright, you can take it off now,” his father directed.

Eli yanked the blindfold off in eagerness, and looked around the area to see what his parents brought him outside for. It took him a few seconds to realize what it was.

A black 2015 Cadillac CTS was parked in front of their house with a giant black ribbon on the hood.

“You guys got me a new car?” Eli asked his parents as he looked at it in shock. The car was absolutely gorgeous, fancy, and screamed luxury.

“We figured that since you got your license reinstated, and that we can trust you with a car again, we decided to reward your hard work with this beauty,” Bullfrog explained in pride.

“And so you can drive back to New York without paying for those expensive plane tickets!” Cece added cheerfully.

Smiling widely, Eli turned around and hugged his parents, who hugged him back. They have come so far as a family since junior year, and he was grateful for his parents not abandoning him at his lowest moment. There were a few difficult moments for sure, but they never gave up on him.

“Thanks guys,” he replied to them warmly in gratitude.

* * *

Marisol did not know why Eli thought it was so important for her to get out of her bed right now, but she was ready to complain. It was around eight in the morning, and the sun was barely up.

She was waiting for him outside in a tank top, shorts, flip flops, and a silk scarf wrapped around her hair. She hoped he wasn’t expecting her to look super sexy at this time of morning without prior warning.

When her boyfriend pulled up in front of her in a black Cadillac, she was confused. He rolled down the window as she walked up to him.

“You got a new car?” She asked him while looking inside the interior. She was impressed with the mahogany linings and lush flooring. 

“My parents bought me this,” he answered with a big, excited grin. She couldn’t help but be excited too. Not only was the car pretty cool, but she no longer had to drive him around everywhere. 

“They must have good money,” she replied with an approving smile.

“My mom grew up rich and my dad owns a radio station,” he answered with a shrug. “Now get in!” 

She opened the passenger door and got in. “Wow,” she said as she sat in the comfortable leather seat. “This is so cool!” She gushed while bouncing excitedly.

“Now I can take you anywhere I want,” Eli replied to her, “Like over Imogen’s house tonight to apologize for being a bitch to her in high school.”

Marisol sighed at the remark. “Does it have to be today?” She asked while folding her arms. 

“Yes, because I want this conflict between you guys to be over as soon as possible. I don’t like my girlfriend and my best friend hating each other, at least out in the open. Suck it up and make amends with her,” he advised her strictly. 

“Fine,” she accepted.

“You know what? It doesn’t even have to be tonight. Get dressed and later this afternoon I’ll schedule a meeting between you guys at The Dot,” he suggested.

“Great, now there’s gonna be witnesses when she kills me,” Marisol replied. She didn’t know what would happen if her and Imogen were alone unsupervised, but if it was anything like her smacking her with a textbook but worse, then she was screwed.

“She’s not because I’ll be there. Now get dressed. I’ll pick you up at 2,” he ordered. Sighing again, she got out of his car and begrudgingly waved as he pulled off. Knowing Eli, he was probably going to go customize his car with all kinds of goth shit. After a month of dating, she already knew him too well.

As she walked back into her house, she thought about how awkward this meeting was going to be. 

* * *

Eli went straight to a car shop after he left Marisol’s to get some decorations for his new car. He was already so in love with it, and he’s only been driving around in it for about an hour. The freedom of driving around in his own car again was just an euphoric feeling. He missed it.

He could blast his own music again, tweak his car to his power, and drive off to some secluded area whenever he felt like being by himself.

He could also have as much sex with Marisol in his car as he would like.

That was probably the most exciting aspect.

In honor of his old fallen car, Morty, that he crashed into a wall on purpose, he decided that this car’s name was going to be Morticia. Since his mind was definitely in a better place, there was no way she was in danger of being destroyed. She was safe.

He excitedly picked up a skull decal, a Batman-themed steering wheel cover, and some skull ornaments. Unfortunately for now, that was all he was going to pick up if he wanted to use restraint.

As much he wanted to blow his entire paycheck on tricking out his new ride, he had to save some of it up for a certain purpose.

* * *

Hours later, Marisol had been waiting at a Dot table for quite some time when Imogen finally showed up by herself. Fiona was nowhere in sight. Cool, so there wasn’t going to be a mediator.

She straightened up in her seat as the other girl stared at her coldly before sitting down. There was an awkward silence between them before she chose to initiate their conversation.

“Hello Imogen,” she greeted.

“Hi,” Imogen flatly greeted back, making her frown in response.

Eli came by with his pen and notepad. “Ladies, welcome to The Dot. Can I start you off with anything?” He asked cheerfully as he tried to lighten up the atmosphere. It wasn’t working yet.

“A strawberry milkshake would be great, babe,” she answered with a smile.

“I’ll take a chocolate one,” Imogen replied flippantly. 

“Cool. I’ll be right back,” he replied as he wrote the orders down before walking away. Once again, Marisol tried to nicely initiate the conversation.

“So Imogen, how are you?” She asked politely.

“Uncomfortable,” the other girl replied.

“Is it because of me?” Marisol asked back. She sighed as Imogen folded her arms in response. “Look I’m-“

“Cut the crap. Why are you dating Eli?” Imogen demanded, cutting her off. She was taken aback by the surprise question.

“He’s caring, romantic, funny, passionate, and a truly interesting guy,” she answered quickly.

“Are you saying this only because he’s no longer parading around in gothic attire and in a hearse? Now that he’s no longer some weird freak you and your bestie can make fun of, he’s hot to you now?” Imogen accused her, and Marisol could already feel herself getting angry. But this wasn’t a situation where she could snap. She swallowed before answering.

“I’m not going to lie to you. Eli’s new look was part of the reason I became interested in him, but I never thought he was unattractive in high school. I was just turned off by his emo look and disliked him based on that,” she admitted.

“How wonderful,” Imogen replied sarcastically, “So you judged him off his appearance in high school, and pretty much assumed he was a satanic baby eater. Just like how you judged me for being different and was rude to me the whole four years at Degrassi.”

 _‘You showed up to freshman orientation in bunny ears, whiskers, and bunny slippers, why wouldn’t I think you were weird?’_ she thought to herself defensively, but didn’t say it aloud. It wasn’t a good defense right now, and honestly she felt bad for even thinking that at this point.

“I was wrong for that. It’s been a year, and I’m already not proud of the way I acted in high school to a lot of people, and especially you. You didn’t deserve any of what I put you through. I’m sorry,” she apologized sincerely.

“I did nothing to you but be myself, and because I didn’t walk around in designer clothes and carry pom poms around, you and Katie were nasty to me. You filmed a video of my father who had dementia to show around the school so everyone could mock me even more. Now you’re expecting me to believe you have genuine feelings for my best friend who has bipolar disorder beyond thinking he’s hot now?” Imogen questioned her.

“I shouldn’t have filmed your dad, and I’m sorry he has dementia. I truly didn’t know he was sick, and I would have you guys alone if I did, but I also know that regardless of that, it was wrong. I know this might sound like bullshit to you, but university has opened my eyes to a lot of things and one of them was that I was close-minded. The world is a unique place filled with people with different backgrounds, attitudes, and styles, and I’m learning to appreciate it now,” she answered, which made Imogen snort in disbelief.

“It’s true,” Marisol argued, “And as for Eli, I don’t see him as a weird guy with a mental disorder. He’s my sweet, awesome boyfriend with a wicked smirk and a brilliant mind. I care for him a lot.”

“You say that now, but if he has a manic episode, how would that make you feel? Are you going to turn your back on him and date someone who’s a lot less trouble for you?” Imogen asked her.

“No, I would never. If I can handle Mo having diabetes, I can handle Eli having bipolar disorder,” Marisol reassured her, “I know Eli has struggled with mental health issues in the past, and I know I wasn’t kind to your father with dementia, but at this stage in our relationship I truly want to support Eli. When Cam killed himself, you know I planned a vigil with Fiona as a way to provide support for everyone because it was rough for the whole school. Even though I didn’t like him at the time, I still felt bad that he found Cam because that would mess anyone up. I honestly don’t know how bad his mental issues run now, but I’ll still be there for Eli when he needs me.”

Suddenly, Eli was there with their drinks and put them gently on the table. He had a look in his eyes that said he overheard everything they said. Marisol smiled at him nervously, but he only looked at her in return. It gave her anxiety.

“Is there anything else you ladies would like?” He asked them.

“A large marshmallow cookie?” She requested while giving him her best puppy look. Once again, Eli was just staring at her.

“Same, I guess,” Imogen said. He nodded before taking their orders and walking away from them again.

“Imogen, I’m here right now because I want to make amends with you for not just Eli’s sake, but to honestly make up for my past treatment of you. We didn’t get along in high school, and I acknowledge that’s my fault but we’re both adults now and I want us to at least be civil to each other. I’ll start by paying for both of our orders,” Marisol offered. She then watched as the other girl contemplated her words.

“You’re genuinely not going to be horrible to me, anymore?” Imogen asked in a soft tone.

“Yes,” she answered.

“And you actually like Eli,” Imogen said.

“Yes,” she repeated.

“I’ll give you three strikes before I start harassing Eli to dump you. And if you ever hurt him, I will scalp you,” Imogen warned, and there was not a doubt in Marisol’s mind that the girl was serious enough to do it.

“You don’t have to worry about that. If anything, he has to be worried about hurting me,” she replied with a big smile.

It would probably be a long time before they could be even considered friends, but at least this was a start.

* * *

While overhearing the girls’ conversation, he realized that he never had a talk with Marisol about his past struggles with mental health.

As Eli watched his girlfriend and his best friend chat amicably while eating their cookies, he wondered when would be the perfect time. Their relationship so far was basically going on dates, chilling at each other’s houses, and then having very wild sex. The most in depth conversation they ever had was about their bad breakups with their exes and their politics to make sure they weren’t incompatible in that area. Well, now it was time for them to touch on some serious topics.

He wasn’t surprised at how protective Imogen was over him. Even after she shed her creepy stalker fangirl persona, that aspect of her never went away. Even after their breakup, she still remained concerned over him. He suspected she felt bad over pushing him to not take his meds, which only worsened his mental health at the time, which is why she kept interrogating Marisol over it. He had to admit that when Fiona told him that she was the one who came up with planning a vigil for Cam, he was surprised, especially after her ignorant attitude over Imogen’s dad. But he figured it was to save face.

He didn’t even think about her possibly being turned off by him having a mental disorder, especially when she was one of those people in high school that definitely thought of him as some creepy psycho. However, she clearly wasn’t repulsed by him being bipolar so he shouldn’t be too afraid of talking with her about it.

Imogen finally got up and left, but not before waving him goodbye as he wiped the counter. He gave her a curt nod as she left the restaurant. The meeting was successful and hopefully the war between her and Marisol was finally over.

“Eli, you can go on break,” Spinner said, and he nodded as he went to sit over across from Marisol, who was still sipping on her milkshake. 

“That went well,” she remarked about her conversation with Imogen. Her face fell when she saw the serious look on his face. “Are you mad at what you heard?” She asked in worry.

“No,” he denied, “But I do think we need to have a discussion about this.”

She looked at him in curiosity and beckoned for him to continue.

“As you know, I have bipolar disorder. I wasn’t diagnosed with it until I was seventeen years old. As you also know, I did some very...questionable things in high school because I was sick and I genuinely did not think what I was doing was wrong. It wasn’t until I got professional help that I realized that I was coping with my trauma in the most unhealthy ways that hurt a lot of people, and that having an untreated mental disorder didn’t help,” he took a deep breath before continuing, “Mare, when I was sixteen years old, I saw my first girlfriend get hit by a car and then bleed to death out on the street. At seventeen, one of my best friends got shot at prom. At eighteen, I discovered the dead body of a kid that committed suicide. Later, my second girlfriend was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, which terrified me but I had to remain calm for her. Not too long after, my best friend that got shot later nearly got himself killed in a car wreck by texting and driving. Understand me when I say that I’ve been through a lot of really fucked up shit, and even though I’m regularly taking medication, I still have moments of bad anxiety, paranoia, and manic behavior. But for the most part, I’m okay,” he assured her.

“I’m happy. You deserve to be okay after everything you went through, and if I ever gave you the impression that I would be disgusted by you based on my past behavior, I’m sorry. I’m not that girl anymore,” she apologized.

“I know, and I’m glad for it. I just don’t want you to be blindsided by this in the future so I’m talking to you about it now,” he explained.

“It feels good that you actually want to talk to me about your bipolar disorder this early because it took four months for Mo to tell me about his diabetes because he didn’t trust me with it, but he told Jake before me. I felt so useless as a girlfriend when I found out,” she replied, and hurt flashed in her eyes. Eli reached over and grabbed her hand. He gently ran his finger over it in circles.

“You can be comforted by the knowledge that I already trust you. I know I haven’t brought this up much, but one thing I really like about you is how much you’ve grown since high school. Don’t get me wrong, you’re still pushy, over dramatic, and a little snobby but then again...so am I,” he said with an amused smile, “So we’re perfect for each other. But I also know now that you’re sweet, compassionate, and supportive.”

“Thank you, Eli,” she replied in gratitude, and the smile on her face was truly sincere.

For the rest of his break, they simply enjoyed each other’s presence.

* * *

After his shift was over later, he was driving them back over to Marisol’s place. Marisol was off today from work, and that to her being stuck with him at his job all day. She ultimately had to order herself a meal for dinner.

“Well, I think me and Imogen are going to be just fine,” Marisol said cheerfully.

“Good. I can’t even begin to express how relieved I am,” he replied.

“I think we should celebrate this and you getting a new car,” she suggested.

“What do you have in mind?” Eli asked.

He briefly looked over to her, and as soon as he saw the look on his girlfriend’s face, he drove over into the parking lot of the nearest shopping center. Since it was dark out, he hoped no one would be able to see what they were about to do. Public sex usually wasn’t his thing, but he was eager to break Morticia in right now. It’s been months since he had any type of car sex.

“Come here,” he commanded as Marisol unbuckled herself eagerly. She leaned over and kissed him deeply on the lips. As their tongues collided, she reached down and massaged his crotch until he got hard. She bit down on his lip before pulling away from him with a seductive smirk on her face.

“I think I deserve a reward,” she purred as she reached down and unzipped his jeans.

“You do. Come and get it,” he replied as she pulled out his engorged cock. She spat in her hand before slowly stroking him, making him moan. 

He watched in anticipation as she then took out a scrunchie and pulled her hair into a loose ponytail. She then wet her lips before leaning down and taking him deep in her mouth. He moaned in pleasure again as she hungrily bobbed her head up and down while kneading his balls. He would probably never get tired of the way she gave head like she was starving for it. She was his little soul sucker.

She pulled away from him every now and then to spit on his length before taking him back into her mouth. She then started making loud slurping noises while sucking him. It was absolutely nasty in the most perfect way.

“Keep doing that and I’m not lasting long,” he warned her. She pulled her mouth off of him with a loud, wet pop. 

“That’s my intention, babe,” she replied as she ran along her tongue all around his skin.

“Oh,” he said in response while blinking. Marisol kissed the tip of him and promptly went back to sucking. She was the only girl he dated that actually enjoyed swallowing. The other three simply found the concept disgusting, but not her. She enjoyed the taste of him.

When she gave him a particularly strong suck while squeezing his balls, it made him cry out. She only giggled in response, and it sent vibrations through his body. Grabbing her hair, he started thrusting upwards into her mouth. If she wanted to finish him off like this, he was going to give her the help she needed. For the first time ever, she started gagging but quickly adjusted. They worked together to give him the release that was building up.

“Fuck,” he swore when he finally spilled into her mouth. She swallowed up every bit of his cum eagerly with a big gulp. She wiped her mouth as she lifted her head up again.

“Yum,” she said with a smile as she licked his release off her lips. Her lip gloss was completely smeared.

“Did I ever tell you how dangerous you are?” He asked her.

“Only after every blowjob,” she replied with another giggle.

“It’s because they’re perfection,” he complimented her before leaning over and kissing her sensually. She moaned as he sucked on her bottom lip. Most of the guys he knew found it disgusting to kiss a girl after she blew him but he personally saw it as letting her know she did a job well done, which is what his girlfriend always did.

“I’m kinda sad though. I feel like being inside of you right now,” he said against her lips. Once they started having condomless sex after both of them got tested, he couldn’t get enough of the feel of rutting inside of her. It felt too good even with the small danger of pregnancy.

But Marisol was on birth control pills, so he really didn’t need to worry about that. She seemed pretty organized about it.

“It’s okay. I know what we can do until you can get hard again,” she assured him.

“And what’s that?” He asked.

“Pleasuring me,” she answered seductively while pulling off her top, leaving her in a black bra. He unbuckled himself quickly while she crawled to the back of the car.

He spent the next fifteen minutes doing exactly that.

* * *

“I can’t believe we already took your car’s virginity,” Marisol remarked later as they cuddled naked together under a throw blanket in his back seat. No one walked past Eli’s car the whole time they were having sex, and she was grateful for that. She had been caught in the middle of sex in a public space on two occasions, one was in the locker room with Owen as one of his teammates forgot his jockstrap and walked in on them, and the other was when some poor niner walked in on her and Mo in one of the classrooms after school. Each time was up there in the most humiliating moments of her life.

“And it’s only been my first day of having her,” he added.

“We corrupted her,” she replied in mock horror.

“We did,” he said with mock sadness.

They then laughed together. The way they couldn’t keep their hands off each other was intense, but she couldn’t fight it. She loved sex, especially with Eli who was too good at it. She was willing to admit that with his tongue alone, he could convince her to do anything.

Since neither of them were ready to put their clothes back on, they continued to relax and look outside at the night sky.

* * *

The next day, Eli walked into The Dot for work and nearly walked right back out when he saw Mo serving a table and Jake cleaning one of the bathrooms. So not only did Spinner hire them, but they were working the same shift as him. Shit.

When Mo saw him, his eyes darkened but continued to take the customer’s order with his big goofy smile. Eli pretended to not see it as he walked over to a computer by the bar and clocked in. He took his position behind the counter for today. A few minutes later, Peter joined him.

“What’s going on with the new guy?” His co-worker asked him as they waited for customers.

“That’s Mo. He’s one of my friends who is currently pissed at me because I’m dating his ex,” he explained.

“Oh shit.”

“Yeah.”

“You kinda broke the bro code, man,” Peter scolded him.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t expect to fall for Marisol but it happened and there’s nothing anyone could do about it, especially since it’s been months since they were together. I would have been absolutely miserable hiding my feelings for her,” Eli reasoned, and he was truly exhausted at this point with how many times he was forced to say some variation of these words to people.

“That’s also true, but that sucks for Mo. As someone I know used to say: bummer times,” his co-worker said.

“Bummer times indeed,” Eli agreed. _‘But at least I have Mare,’_ he thought to himself. Then again, she was the reason he was in trouble in the first place.

“Spinner is always hiring people who bring drama to The Dot. It’s like he’s attracted to chaos or something,” Peter expressed in worry.

“I mean, it seems I attract drama no matter what I do. It’s like I’m a character in a melodramatic teen soap opera so something,” Eli replied as he tried to think of a moment in his where there wasn’t drama. Oddly enough, it was like he had some sort of drama every week ever since he first stepped foot at Degrassi.

Weird.

* * *

“Marisol, table thirty-seven,” Juan ordered her, and with a polite smile, Marisol walked over to her assigned table with her notepad and pen.

Her smile faltered somewhat when she saw that Drew and Bianca were sitting at the booth, but only a little. While she didn’t see herself as ever being BFFs with the couple, she had squashed her beef with them in Vegas along with Katie. Plus, she could begrudgingly admit they were a cute couple.

“Marisol, hey,” Bianca greeted her with a smile as she approached them. Drew gave her a polite nod.

“How are you guys? I heard you guys are back together,” she asked them.

“Back and better than ever,” Drew answered happily, and his whole presence was glowing. Bianca’s was too. They were really in love.

“That’s great. Would you guys like to start off with anything?”

The couple shared a knowing look. 

“We’ll take Pepsis and we would also like to share the barbecue wings together,” Bianca answered for her and Drew, and he nodded in confirmation.

“Coming right up!” Marisol replied cheerfully before walking away to give their order to the cook. When she was done, she was assigned another table, this one was a young couple with a baby girl. The baby was loudly crying the whole time she was taking their orders.

“Would she like some paper and crayons?” She questioned them. The mother smiled sheepishly.

“She would love that, thank you. I don’t know what’s up with her tonight,” the woman answered in concern.

“Babies cry just for the sake of crying sometimes, Jess, you know that,” the man replied. “Hopefully, she can calm down if she has a distraction,” he added.

“Kids, huh?” Marisol asked in amusement. One thing about kids is that they were adorable to look at and play with as long as they weren’t yours. She planned to have kids in the future but not right now. She had her whole twenties to live out.

“Yeah, we won’t be having another one until little Kayla starts school at the minimum,” the mother said as she put a pacifier in the baby’s mouth. The baby started sucking on it but was still whimpering.

“And that’s a big if. We have to survive this one first,” the father joked.

She left them for a couple minutes to get coloring paper and crayons, and when she returned, the couple were desperately trying to cheer their baby up. “Here little one,” she said sweetly as she handed the baby the paper and crayons. The baby started scribbling all over on the coloring paper immediately with a blue crayon.

“Thank you so much,” the father told her in gratitude.

“My pleasure,” she replied warmly before getting Drew and Bianca’s drinks. The couple was chatting amicably about something by the time she returned to them, but before she left again, Drew stopped her.

“So I heard from B and Adam that you’re dating Eli,” he said in curiosity.

“We are,” she confirmed, wondering where he was going with this. Was it judgment? She could already feel herself getting defensive.

“That’s uh....interesting combo you guys make there,” he replied in disbelief, and she couldn’t help the words that came out of her mouth next. She couldn’t.

“Just like the stars of the biggest blowjob scandal at Degrassi since the gonorrhea outbreak?” She countered with a raised eyebrow.

Drew frowned, while Bianca simply chuckled in response.

“She has a point you know,” Bianca said to her boyfriend.

“She didn’t have to mention it,” he replied in annoyance.

“Well just like how you and Bianca are good for each other despite the weird circumstances of you guys hooking up, Eli and I are good for each other despite hating each other. We are all proof that unlikely couples work,” she explained.

“I guess you’re right,” he replied while sharing an amused look with Bianca, who smiled back. She wondered if her and Eli were ever going to reach that point.

Speaking of Eli, she had a sexy outfit planned out for him when she visited him after work.

He was gonna love it.

* * *

_Later that evening_

There was a knock on the front door.

Eli got off his couch to see who it was, and cringed when he saw Mo and Jake. Was Mo here to beat him up? Reluctantly, he opened the door and braced himself to get punched in the face.

Instead his friend just stood there.

“I’m here to talk,” Mo said, and he didn’t look angry at all.

“And I’m here to mediate this discussion,” Jake added.

“Okay....,” Eli replied hesitantly as he moved over to let them enter the house. He then shut the door behind them.

When Mo sat on his couch, he sat across from him, and Jake chose to sit in the middle between them. Mo cleared his throat before he started to talk.

“You’re probably wondering why I’m here to just talk to you after ignoring you for three days because I was mad,” Mo began, “Well I’m actually still a little mad, but I’m more confused by everything now. I just want to know how? How did you fall for Marisol when you hated her in high school, man? I had to tell you to chill off of disrespecting her when we were hanging out more than a few times,” he asked him.

“I wish I could give you a whole deep story of how it happened, but honestly Mo, I found out that I had more in common with her than I thought and it led to me being attracted to her. One night, something came out of that attraction and we’ve been dating ever since. It’s as simple as that,” Eli answered.

“It was Mexican Night, wasn’t it?” Jake asked him.

“Yeah,” he admitted sheepishly.

“I figured. I knew something went down between you guys that night,” Jake replied with a shrug. “The eye-fucking the two of you were having was intense, and then there was the awkward flirting...”

“That actually started the night before, when she came into The Dot while we were about to close. She was dressed in this sexy outfit and I couldn’t help but be entranced by it.”

“So that’s the reason you like Mare, because she’s hot?” Mo questioned him with narrowed eyes.

“Absolutely not,” Eli denied immediately.

“Because she deserves better than that. Before she met me, Marisol was just seen by other guys as nothing more than a good fuck. I saw her as so much more than that. For nearly all of high school, I was scared to approach her because she was a pretty, popular girl that drove around in a convertible and I was the school loser. I just knew she would never go for me, but she did. She saw me as more than an annoying chubby guy and fell hard for me because I gave her what no guy ever could, and that was genuine care for her feelings. I worked hard to give her the pampering she deserved, and she treated me like a king. She bought me an ankle bracelet for my diabetes, bought me watches and all this expensive stuff for WhisperHug, paid for my plane trip for our Spring Break vacation, and paid Jake to come to our prom to make me happy. I never thought she would care that much about me but she did. I loved her,” Mo ranted. Jake looked back and forth between them in worry of this conversation getting ugly.

“If you loved her so much, then why did you dump her as soon as you guys started having communications issues at university?” Eli asked him.

He could see in Mo’s eyes that the question pierced right through him.

“I don’t know!” He exclaimed in frustration. “I don’t know what happened, but I just....grew apart from her. We started talking less, I started talking to other girls in return, and I got tired of the lack of contact between us. One day, I just gave up and I regret that now,” his friend answered.

It took Eli a minute to gather his next words. “I was working one random day at The Dot last month when she came in looking troubled,” he started off softly, “As you can probably imagine, I wasn’t pleased seeing her but I was assigned as her waiter, so I had to suck it up for the job. I took her order, gave her the milkshake she ordered, and when I was about to go off to check on her food, she struck up a conversation with me. While we were talking, I brought you up because I assumed you guys were still dating, and her face nearly crumpled. She opened up about the bad break up, and by the end of it, she nearly started crying. It was then I realized that that was something we both were struggling with as Clare broke up with me earlier this year because of bad communication issues as well, and for weeks I barely left my room because I was crushed. You know how much I was in love with her. I thought it was the end of the world when she left me for her ex, and by the time May arrived, I felt numb to everything around me. I could tell Mare felt the same way.” 

Mo’s face shifted in sadness at the mention of Marisol’s pain, and Eli took a deep breath before continuing. 

“We were both two lonely, sad people who were suffering from heartbreak from people we thought we were going to spend the rest of our lives with. A few days later, I came into Little Miss Steaks and she ended up being my waitress by sheer coincidence. That night I opened up about Clare dumping me as well, and she was nothing but understanding about it. We started joking around, and it was the most light-hearted I felt in a long time. I started to see her in a different light. I won’t give you the graphic details, but I started dreaming about us and what she could do for me. The next night, we had another nice conversation while I was making her a milkshake, and she invited me to Mexican Night at Little Miss Steaks. Jake knows what happened the next night. We spent the whole dinner talking, and discovering things about the other person we didn’t know before, and our banter quickly got flirtatious. I then drove her home, and one thing led to another,” he explained.

Jake’s eyes had a twinkle of amusement as he went over the events of that night. He truly felt bad for Jake as he was pretty much an unexpected third wheel on their first unofficial date, that neither of them realized was a date.

“What happened between us that night was equivalent to a raging fire that wouldn’t simmer down. The sparks between us just flew everywhere, and I didn’t want it to end. We could have just made this a one-night stand but I couldn’t. I wanted more from her, Mo, because I saw something deeper in her too. I took her out on a date the next day, and the fun we had pretty much settled any doubts on whether we needed to be in a relationship. You wonder what I see in her beyond being beautiful? Here’s what I see in her. Marisol is hilarious, adorable, spunky, caring, and far more bright than she lets on. She’s also as passionate as I am when it comes to her dreams. Every day, I grow closer to her, and I can’t see us ending,” he said, with his voice growing stronger with every word. “I _don’t_ want this relationship between us to end.”

“Do you love her?” Mo asked, and there was a glassy look in his eyes. Eli took another few seconds to answer honestly.

“Yes. I’m falling in love with her,” he confirmed, and the realization hit him like a truck. After only a month of dating, he was falling in love with Marisol Lewis.

The thought wasn’t scary to him for some reason.

Mo looked to Jake, who only looked back. He could tell that his other friend didn’t know what to say to any of this. Eli watched as they silently communicated with each other. Then they both got up.

“I guess there’s nothing more to say at this point other than that if you make her happy, then it’s fine with me. I didn’t mean to hurt Marisol the way I did, and I’m probably going to regret it for a long time, but she deserves happiness because she’s an amazing girl. Treat her right, that’s all I ask,” Mo pleaded to him.

“That’s all I want to do,” Eli assured him as he also rose from his seat. “Am I forgiven?” He asked him as he held out his hand. Mo looked down on it before shaking it.

“Yeah,” he replied, “Just no more lies.”

“Believe me, that’s the end of them.”

“Alright boys, now hug,” Jake encouraged them. Him and Mo shared a smile before they tightly hugged each other.

“Thank God, this is all over,” Jake expressed in relief. “So...what do you guys want to do now?

* * *

Marisol got out of her car in front of Eli’s house, and shut the door. With a confident strut and a sexy smile, she walked up to her boyfriend’s front door and knocked multiple times. As she waited for him to open the door, she looked over her outfit one last time. It was a black, backless mini dress with black heels. Once again, she was wearing black again for her boyfriend. She was contemplating making him wear something pink every once in a while. It was only fair.

She stepped back as the door opened, and then stared in confusion as Mo and Jake walked out with red eyes. The smell of marijuana then hit her nose _immediately_. 

They both gaped dramatically when they saw her. 

“Marisol, you look hot! What’s uppppppp girl?” Mo asked cheerfully as he pulled her into a tight hug. She awkwardly hugged back.

“Hi Mo, hi Jake,” she greeted them with an uncomfortable smile.

“Hi!” Jake greeted back happily.

“Damn I really fucked up dumping you, but you got Eli now, and he told me he’s gonna treat you right. That’s all that matters,” Mo said while nodding his head rapidly. He then lightly slapped her on the back before him and Jake walked past her to Jake’s car.

She entered the house to find Eli sitting on his couch with his legs wide open and with a big, stupid smile on his face. He was only in his boxers.

“Hey baby,” he purred in his best “sexy” tone.

“Eli, what the hell happened between you guys?” She demanded while folding her arms.

“We had a talk, and then...and then...we decided to have some _fun_ ,” her boyfriend answered with a giggle. He was obviously blazed out of his mind right now and so any plans they had for tonight were delayed. She wanted to be pissed, and she probably was going to be in a few minutes, but for right now she was just relieved over Mo seemingly no longer being mad at them dating.

“Oh yeah? You guys are friends again?” She asked.

“Hell yeah! The boys are rolling again!” Eli answered excitedly.

 _‘Well that settles it,’_ Marisol thought to herself in amusement.

Mo was no longer angry over their relationship, and neither was Imogen.

Now that those issues were no longer a problem, they can have a stress-free relationship.


	12. Break of Dawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is very, very long.
> 
> I don’t why but blame Eli.
> 
> As expected at this point, there is smut in this chapter that prettt much starts as soon as Eli and Marisol enter the cottage until you see a line about Eli waking up the next morning.
> 
> The song title is Break of Dawn by Michael Jackson.

_ The beginning of July _

Early in the morning on a hot day in July, Eli drove up to the Emerald Velvet Club. One of the most exclusive clubs in Ontario, it was located fifty minutes from downtown Toronto and hosted a wide golf course, a tennis court, a swimming pool, a shopping center, several dining facilities, and hunting ranges. It also had twenty-nine guest rooms and two guest cottages. It was over 600 acres of rich, healthy land.

A nineteen year old man driving up to the club would normally be a cause for immediate interrogation or rejection, especially when the average member was over 60, but not when he was the grandson of the owners, Louis and Genevieve Chevalier. The security at the entrance of the club let him drive by without a second look.

He found his grandfather where he usually was, which was on the golf course.

“Elijah, how are you son?” His granddad said with a cheerful smile as he went to hug him with his golf club in hand. He was a wizened man of seventy and had the bright green eyes that would later be passed down to him.

“Great, Granddad,” Eli replied while politely hugging him back. He wasn’t really as warm with Cece’s parents as he was with Bullfrog’s due to them being somewhat stuffy rich folks, but they were still nice even if they weren’t comfortable with his gothic tastes. They sent him money for his birthday every year, got him lavish gifts for Christmas, invited him to stay in one of the guest rooms during the winter and summer, and were currently funding his tuition at NYU.

“That’s good. You’ll be going back to NYU next month, right?” He asked him.

“Yeah, and I’ll be moving into an apartment for this year,” he answered. The two-bedroom apartment he got wasn’t really nice looking but it wasn’t shitty looking either so he was grateful for that. He just wished he wasn’t unexpectedly moving in alone due to Clare dumping him before he could ask her to move in with her, but he guessed he could come to appreciate the solitude. Hopefully the infamous New York City rats wouldn’t try to move in with him instead.

“Your grandmother and I are so proud of you for continuing the family legacy. To have a grandson that could be the next successful director in Hollywood is a wonderful thing to have,” his grandfather told him in pride. “Plus you seemed to have toned down your...morbid fashion sense,” he added while looking him up and down in approval.

Today, Eli decided to wear a red polo shirt, navy blue pants, and white tennis shoes to appear as “normal” as possible when he gave his grandfather his request. It wasn’t much, but it was the best he could do short of wearing dress clothes.

“Not completely, but enough to no longer scare people,” he replied. 

“That’s good. Your grandmother and I were so concerned with how you used to dress in all black and drive a hearse around...I blame your parents for condoning it, especially your father,” his grandfather remarked, and ending it there before he went on another rant. His grandfather hated Bullfrog for “corrupting” his mother, and the feeling was mutual. It made Thanksgiving awkward every year. “Well what brings you here today, Elijah? You usually don’t come here uninvited.”

Eli tried not to swallow nervously as he answered. “I have a request.”

“Oh? And what is that?” His grandfather asked.

“My girlfriend’s birthday is at the end of the month, and I would like to give her a party here,” Eli requested. There was no doubt in his head that Mare would dig a place like this and she had the taste for luxury his grandparents would love.

“Okay, and what day is that?”

“July 24th.”

“Well, we certainly have an opening for that day, and I’m sure your grandmother will enjoy planning it once you give her all of the intimate details. You know how she is,” his grandfather accepted. “How is Clare by the way?” Eli tensed at the mention of his ex-girlfriend’s name.

“Clare and I broke up in February, Granddad. I have a new girlfriend,” he explained awkwardly. He forgot to tell his family about that, but how does that come up in a normal conversation?

His grandfather blinked in response. “Oh, what is this one’s name then?” He asked.

“Marisol. We graduated in the same class together but we didn’t really talk much in high school,” Eli answered, putting the last part as nicely as he could.

“Beautiful name, do you have any pictures of her?” His grandfather requested, and Eli braced himself as he took out his cellphone and looked for the best picture of his girlfriend he could find. It was the one he took of her with a bowling ball at Dave N’ Buster’s. She had a big, cute smile on face and was doing a special pose for him. In his head, he sent a silent prayer to the universe that his grandfather didn’t turn out to be secretly racist. He had only seen two black members of the country club in all of the years he went.

When he showed his grandfather the picture of Marisol, he only nodded approvingly in response. “Oh, she’s quite the beauty. You have wonderful taste, son,” his grandfather remarked with a smile. Eli almost let out a sigh of relief.

He smiled back as he thought of her. “Yeah, she’s gorgeous. It’s distracting for me sometimes,” he agreed. It was a good thing they didn’t date in high school because he wouldn’t be able to focus on anything, only on her.

“I bet. That’s the kind of woman you want to hide from other men. What is she going to university for?”

“Business and marketing.”

“Hmm, excellent choices! It sounds like she has great designs for her future. I like your girlfriend already. You should bring her around here sometime before you go back,” his grandfather suggested cheerfully.

“I just might. I know she’ll love the shopping for sure,” he replied.

“So I’ll tell your grandmother to reserve the date for the party, and you can talk to her about it. Don’t worry about the price of renting the ballroom or the catering. You just have to pay for the decorations. Any other requests?”

“Yeah....can I rent one of the private cottages?”

* * *

_ July 16th _

Marisol frowned in confusion as she struggled to put on one of her favorite sundresses. It was a bright yellow gown with a v-neck design, short sleeves, and a floral print. It wasn’t so much the top part that was the issues as she mostly had trouble getting it past her hips.  _ ‘Did it shrink in the washer or something?’  _ She asked herself as she gave up and put the dress away. She grabbed another sundress, this time a teal maxi gown, and while that slipped on more easily, she still had some issues getting it around her hips. It even felt a little tight around her body.

She tried to think nothing of it as she continued to get ready for dinner with Eli and her family at a nice Italian restaurant. Recently she had finally told her family about him, and of course they all wanted to meet him. It was going to be her, Eli, her mother, her brother, her father, and her little sister. Her step-mother unfortunately wouldn’t be able to come tonight.

She didn’t want to be afraid of her family not liking Eli as there was no real reason to as he was dressing in more than just black these days and wasn’t driving around in a hearse. However her dad hated Owen for being a stupid jock, and only moderately tolerated Mo because he pampered her so much. Out of her immediate family, he would be the hardest for Eli to please.

“Mari, are you almost ready?” She heard her mother ask.

“Yes, mama! Hold on!” She answered loudly as she applied cherry lip gloss to her lips.

_ ‘There’s nothing more I can do but hope for the best,’  _ she thought to herself.

She was nervous as hell, and mostly for Eli.

* * *

Dinner was.....civil so far.

Right now the table was quiet as everyone ate their meals and sipped wine except for Marisol and her little sister Candice. Then her father wiped his mouth and cleared his throat before addressing him.

“So Eli, what university are you attending?” Her father, Dominic, asked him and he felt himself getting tense at the question. Marisol’s father was intimidating because he was big and burly, no he was quite lanky, but he was intimidating because he gave off the impression of a very classy, professional man who definitely wouldn’t like his precious daughter dating the former school emo kid at Degrassi. Even in a simple blue polo shirt, dress pants, and brown dress shoes, her father easily out dressed him in his red shirt, black jeans, and black tennis shoes. 

“NYU,” Eli answered, hoping it was good enough for him.

“Oh? That’s a very prestigious school. What are you studying there?” 

“Film production. I want to be a film director.”

“What kind of director? Who are your influences?”

“Well Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma, and Bret Barnett are some of my favorites but I want to lean more towards horror like Alfred Hitchcock, Wes Craven, John Carpenter, and David Argento.”

“Interesting choices. That’s a wonderful dream to have but what are your backup plans if it doesn’t work out? The film industry is very competitive.”

“Daddy....,” Marisol warned. 

“Mari, these are good questions to ask,” her father argued. Eli swallowed before answering.

“Well, I’m a pretty great writer and I think if I don’t become the next oscar-winning director then I can put my skills into creative writing or being an editor,” he answered. 

“I want to be a dancer!” Candice spoke up excitedly. He noticed that she was far lighter in complexion than both Marisol and her brother Devon, who took after their mother, Martina. Marisol had told him before that Candice’s mother was white.

Marisol’s father beamed at his daughter. “Candice is eight, and already has plenty of talent as a ballet dancer. She’s the top of her class,” he explained pridefully. “I tried to get my other kids into dancing but it didn’t work out.”

“Well because cheerleading is my passion, Daddy, you know that,” Marisol reminded him.

“And I’m more into basketball,” Devon added with a shrug.

“They get their athletic trait from me,” her mother boasted.

“I guess, but it does good to expand your interests sometimes,” her father pointed out.

“So Eli, how did you meet Mari? She mentioned you a few times when you guys were in high school together but it seems you didn’t interact much,” her mother questioned him.

“We didn’t,” he confirmed, “We ran in completely different social circles even though we shared some of the same friends. We’re obviously close now, though.”

“Life can be funny like that. Connecting with people in adulthood that you wouldn’t spare a second glance towards in high school. You and Mari are very sweet on each other, I can see it in both of your eyes,” her mother remarked with a smile. He could see where Marisol got her dimples from when she smiled.

“You’ve raised a wonderful woman, Ms...,” Eli started before trailing off, awkwardly realizing that he forgot her mother’s last name. Marisol had told him what it was as her mother reverted back to her maiden name after divorcing her father, but he didn’t know what it was.

“You can just refer to me as Martina,” she assured him. He nodded in thanks before looking at her father for permission to call him just Dominic.

“You can still refer to me as Mr. Lewis,” her father told him with a firm look.

It took all in Eli to not slump in disappointment.

* * *

“I think he likes you, Eli,” Marisol said on the phone to Eli later that night. She was just laying on her bed after a nice, hot, exfoliating shower. She wished she could spend some alone time with her man, but it wasn’t possible tonight.

“Really? Because I still don’t get warm and friendly vibes from him,” he replied in disbelief.

“That’s just how he is. He’s always been serious and strict, but he didn’t pull me to the side and tell me I’m making a terrible choice dating you so that’s a good sign,” she said. Dominic Lewis was a hard man, she knew that for the past eighteen, almost nineteen years, but he had his soft side for sure.

“If you say so.”

“Come on, you have to admit this was nicer than how I met  _ your _ parents.”

* * *

_ Flashback  _

_ Marisol came over to his house to watch a movie with him. They made it to the thirty minute mark before they were doing something else. _

_ Eli squeezed his girlfriend’s ass through her pink shorts as they passionately made out on his bed while Titanic played on his TV screen in the background. She moaned in response as their tongues clashed. When they took a minor break to pause so they could breathe, she was panting heavily. _

_ “I...wanna...be...on...top,” she said while pushing him down. _

_ “That is a-okay with me,” he replied with a smirk as she undid the tie holding the front of her white crop together, exposing her breasts to him. She then casually threw the top over the bed before leaning down and capturing his lips in a steamy kiss. She reached down and groped his crotch. _

_ They were so wrapped up in each other that they did not hear Bullfrog coming up the steps nor did they realize that Eli’s bedroom door was unlocked. _

_ “Hey Eli, I was thinking of ordering some barbe-CHRIST!” His father exclaimed in shock, getting both of their attention immediately and killing the mood completely. Marisol let out a shriek of horror as she frantically covered herself up with a pillow while Eli could only stare at Bullfrog with a look of pure embarrassment. _

_ There was an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds before he decided to speak up. _

_ “I...uh...had no idea you were coming home this early, Dad.” _

* * *

“I thought we already agreed that we were going to pretend that never happened,” Eli grumbled, and she could tell his face was going red from embarrassment on the other side. It would be a long time before she herself would ever be comfortable with having sex at the Goldsworthy residence again. Being caught in the act of having sex with her boyfriend by his parents was NOT on her bucket list, and she wanted to drive off a cliff in humiliation after she left Eli’s house.

“We are but it’s true. At least you got to have a nice dinner with my parents, and my Dad even paid for everything! He likes you, Eli. Trust me,” she assured him. She was sure that Eli had her father’s stamp of approval just by sounding intelligent.

“Fine,” he finally accepted. “So….this might seem random as hell, but I want to ask you a question.”

“Okay….what is it?”

“How did you feel about our prom theme?”

“Hated the circus idea at first but Fiona somehow managed to pull it off and make it beautiful,” she answered, thinking about the argument in the student council room she had with her vice president over it. She thought the circus theme was a ridiculous idea, and it didn’t help at all when Fiona revealed that Imogen gave her the idea. However she was outvoted and had to grumpily let it go through, especially since not only was her own idea shut down, but everyone else’s suggestions for the prom theme was lackluster.

But the circus soleil theme turned to be cute on prom night, so she didn’t mind. If only she was able to properly enjoy it before Mo started bitching about Jake and then threw up on her shoes in front of everyone.

“What would have been your ideal prom theme?” He asked her next.

“Something super romantic, like a night in Paris,” she answered. One of her dream vacation spots was the city of romance, and she wanted to slow dance with Mo in front of a prop of the Eiffel Tower. But no, Fiona said the idea was overdone. “Why?” She asked her boyfriend.

“Just wanted to know,” he answered, and she could feel him shrug on the other end. “It’s been on my mind since Imogen and Adam’s prom. Maybe I can take you to Paris one day,” he offered and she immediately brightened up at the thought.

“I would love that. You, me, and the Eiffel Tower. We can have romantic candlelit dinners at the best restaurants and walk in a romantic garden somewhere!” She squealed in excitement.

“A pleasing thought, isn’t it?” He asked. “Well I’ll talk to you later, Princess.”

“Night, Emo Bear,” she purred before giving her phone a quick kiss. She then ended the call. In a way, it probably did come off as weird that they were already planning vacations together, but in another way it felt right.

There was a great feeling in her gut at the thought.

* * *

_ July 18th _

“So this is the room you want to use for your girlfriend’s party, correct?” His grandmother asked him as they entered the Sapphire Room together. While it wasn’t the biggest nor most expensive ballroom on property, it was the most visually stunning with baby blue walls, sapphire blue drapes, magnificent crystal chandeliers, a navel blue carpet, and a wide dance floor in the center of the room. It was a perfect setting for a starry night in Paris theme.

“Yes,” Eli confirmed as he looked around the room to get a proper idea of what kind of decorations would fit. He wanted a look that would completely take his girlfriend’s breath away. “It’s mostly going to be our friends.” He was inviting pretty much everyone they knew in high school that would be able to come via FaceRange, though it would be a great surprise if Jenna came considering that Marisol slept with her baby daddy.

“Alright then, then we’ll get to work making the room look... _ enchanting  _ for the party,” his grandmother replied cheerfully in a way that reminded him of his mother. Genevieve Chevalier took charge of any event planning at the country club, and pulled it off flawlessly every time. Fiona could easily learn from her.

“I know it will. For Marisol, I’ll do anything to make this birthday party perfect for her,” he vowed. Later today, he would be going to a bakery with Katie to pick a design for Marisol’s birthday cake and dessert tray. Knowing his girlfriend, she would love anything involving chocolate, strawberries, or both. Maybe some cheesecake as well. Then tomorrow, he was going to a party shop with Fiona and Imogen to buy most of the props and decorations. However certain items were going to have to be rented. As for the food, he had requested French cuisine to match with the theme. 

“This Marisol must be an amazing girl to have my only grandbaby willing to do all of this for her,” His grandmother remarked, “You’re absolutely enamored with her.”

He blushed at the statement. “She is. I think I’m falling in love with her,” he admitted.

“I can see. Hopefully she’s worth it, my dear, because if you weren’t my grandson, you would be paying a  _ lot  _ of money right now,” she pointed out.

“I already am,” he replied, thinking about how at least two of his paychecks from the Dot nearly went completely into this event. If he  _ didn’t  _ have rich country club-owning grandparents, he would have cut costs by having at The Dot for sure, especially seeing how good it looked on his friends’ prom night. Right now, his wallet was screaming in pain, especially after he just gave his grandmother the payment for one of the cottages. Even with the family discount, two nights at one of them was still expensive.

“Well you would have certainly been paying more. Now as for the cottage, I will make sure everything is in order by Friday,” his grandmother reassured him.

“Thanks, I think that’s going to be the more important part of all of this,” he replied in gratitude.

“So….you’re renting out the cottage so you and Marisol can use it for playing cribbage all day, right?” His grandmother asked with a wry smile, and the atmosphere in the room got awkward  _ fast _ .

“Yeah, definitely,” he answered uncomfortably while rubbing his arm. His sex life was the last thing he had ever wanted to discuss with his grandmother, and he was still uncomfortable from the jokes his grandfather cracked after he requested a cottage.

“Elijah, the cottages are typically rented out by newlyweds and married couples. I know what a young man like you has in mind for staying at one of them. The only thing I ask is that you use the laundry facilities in the small washroom and to not scare off the poor animals in the area.”

“Grandmom, can we  _ please  _ talk about something else?”

* * *

_ July 24th _

On the morning of her nineteenth birthday, Marisol woke up feeling a little nauseous and bloated but she brushed it off as her period coming soon next week.

She checked her phone to see a million text messages from multiple people wishing her a happy birthday. She smiled in particular reading the texts from her parents, Devon, Katie, Jake, Maya. Then she got to Eli’s text.

**“Happy birthday to my sweet, funny, and sexy girlfriend. Being with you these past few months has been one of the greatest highs I have ever known, and I can say that right now, I know nothing but happiness because of you. Today is a day to express how thankful I am that a perfect woman like you is in my life,”** the text read, and she tried not to cry this early in the morning at his sweet words. She’s been so emotional lately and it confused her as to why. However, these tears that were threatening to fall down her face were happy ones.

Marisol got out of the bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready for the day. She was going to thank Eli in person for the text, and she already knew how.  _ ‘Slurp, gawk, slurp, gawk, slurp, gawk gawk,’  _ she thought to herself in amusement as she imitated the sound of a certain sex act in her head.

When she looked in the mirror, she noticed that her face was looking a little more puffier than usual.  _ ‘I think I’m going to need to lay off the cheeseburgers, wings, pizza, crab legs, ice cream, and loaded cheese fries for a bit,’  _ she then thought with a frown. Combined with her clothes seemingly getting tighter, it was obvious that she was gaining more weight.  _ ‘I’ll start eating more chicken wraps and salads instead,’  _ she vowed as she prepared to take a shower by getting a shower cap, washcloth, and some facial soap.

The doorbell suddenly rang downstairs, and she paused just as she was about to turn on the hot water and start stripping. At this time of morning, her mother was sleeping heavily from working all night so there was no way she was answering the door. So it was up to her.

Marisol walked down the steps, looked into the peephole of the front door, and was surprised to see that it was Eli, who had gifts in his arms. She then opened the door. “Babe, what are you doing here this early?” She asked.

“To first say happy birthday to you in person,” he answered with an enthusiastic smile, “And to give you this,” he said as he handed her an edible arrangement. It was birthday themed with chocolate-dipped pineapples shaped like cupcakes with white frosting and rainbow sprinkles, chocolate-dipped apple truffles with white swirls, chocolate-dipped strawberries, grapes, star-shaped pineapple slices, and regular strawberries. It came in a cupcake-shaped tin and three small birthday balloons were attached to it.

“Wow this is beautiful and looks delicious Emo Bear, thank you,” she said with a smile of gratitude before trying to give him a sweet peck on the lips, only for him to stop her. 

“That’s not all,” he replied as he picked up another gift that was sitting next to his feet. It was in a black box with a hot pink bow on top. “In here is something I know you’re gonna love wearing tonight.” 

“Ooh, is it something sexy?” She asked as she took the gift in her other arm. 

“Yeah, but it’s more for you than me, and it’s a requirement for where I’m taking you this evening,” Eli explained.

“Where are you taking me?”

“It’s a secret,” he answered with a smirk, and she pouted in response.

“Can I at least get a hint of where we’re going?” She begged.

“What’s in the box is a hint,” he replied, “Now start getting dressed around six, okay?” 

“Okay….,” she accepted begrudgingly and he leaned forward and pecked her on her lips, which she eagerly responded to.

“I’ll pick you up around seven,” he said after pulling away from her and making his way to his car. She waved before closing the door.

The nauseous feeling inside her didn’t really go away, so she just decided to pour herself some herbal tea to make herself feel better.

* * *

“Part I of Operation: Strawberry was successful,” Eli announced proudly to Katie on the phone. Technically the phone call was coming through his car radio, which was super convenient as he drove over to the bakery to pick up Marisol’s birthday cake.

“Great! I’m on my way to the bakery now. I’ll probably be there in twenty minutes,” Katie replied on the other end.

Once he told Katie his plans for Marisol’s party at the beginning of the month, her best friend was eager to help him out and even assisted him in some areas, such as picking out Marisol’s edible arrangement and cake. They worked together efficiently, which was a pleasant surprise.

After the awkward dinner where Marisol revealed her relationship to everyone, Eli expected Katie to have a huge problem with it, as he was the reason why Marisol had to either ignore her calls or end them early. Plus, he and Katie didn’t really have much to bond over other than dating infamous exes-turned-step siblings, Clare Edwards and Jake Martin. But Katie didn’t raise much of a fuss, she just pulled him aside and told him that if he ever made Marisol cry the way any of her exes did, then she was going to strangle him with his intestines and then throw his body to the sea.

“Good, I’ll see you there!” He said before ending the call. As he stopped at a red light, the sight of a man pushing a stroller with a baby girl in it across the street caught his attention. It was a white man, but the baby looked to be mixed with black. The baby giggled as she kicked her legs up while her father safely pushed her to the other side of the street.

The sight….touched him more than usual.

* * *

As she ate birthday brunch at The Dot with her mom and brother, Marisol couldn’t really shake the sick feeling she had in her stomach even though she was enjoying her plate of boneless barbecue wings and fries. 

“So your little boyfriend has special plans for you and him tonight, huh?” Her mother asked with an excited smile.

“Yeah, and apparently tomorrow too,” she answered as she dipped a piece of wing in ranch dressing before eating it. Her stomach jumped uncomfortably at that. She reached over and drank down some of her Pepsi in an attempt to feel better. “I can’t wait to see what it is.” Her cousins were supposed to take her out clubbing and drinking, but that was postponed to Saturday now.

“All I know is that it better not involve him defiling my sister,” Devon playfully warned her, and she rolled her eyes.

“And what are you going to do about it, Dev?” She challenged him.

“Well since your boyfriend is only like three inches, I can easily just step on him,” her brother answered with a shrug.

“Eli is  _ not  _ that short, shut up,” Marisol argued.

“Compared to the last three boys you were interested in, he is. Owen, KC, and Mo were all giants, and your friend Jake is too,” her mother pointed out, “You obviously had a type you’re getting away from now.”

“Yeah, well, that type was jocks and I think Eli is a breath of fresh air. He’s offering me something different,” she replied, then frowned as she felt her stomach bubbling.

“You alright, Mari?” Her mother asked her in concern.

“Yeah, yeah, nothing bad,” Marisol quickly reassured her even though the feeling was getting worse.

“I guess your new type is guys that write sappy love poems for you and cry about Shakespeare instead now,” Devon teased her.

“Shut up,” she sharply repeated as her older brother snickered in response. She then froze as bile started to rise up through her stomach and throat. 

She immediately got up and bolted to the bathroom.

* * *

Eli looked around the Sapphire Room in pride as Fiona, Imogen, Adam, and Becky finished applying the decorations along with some staff members. The room was absolutely ready for the party that was going to take place in four hours. 

“Are you sure Marisol isn’t going to need a confetti cannon? It’s a surprise after all,” Imogen asked while skipping up to him.

“No, I don’t think this kind of party calls for it,” he told her, and his best friend then pouted in disappointment.

“Aww,” she replied dejectedly.

“Women sure do have a strong power over Elijah Goldsworthy,” Fiona remarked as she approached him as well with Adam and Becky, who was wearing the most excited grin on her face at all of this. “I love decorating!” were the words she said when Adam asked her if she wanted to help out.

“You’re so whipped man,” Adam teased him.

“This coming from the guy who dressed up the Ravine into a temporarily clean, STD-free area for his first girlfriend, Fiona,” Eli dryly shot back.

“Wait, you guys dated?” Becky asked in confusion while looking at Adam and Fiona, who had awkward looks on their faces. “But Fiona, you’re a les-”

“We don’t talk about it,” his friends cut her off at the same time.

* * *

Well after puking her guts out for ten minutes in The Dot bathroom, Marisol felt infinitely better afterwards and the nauseous feeling was gone. Bianca, her and her family’s waitress, came by and immediately asked if it was the food. She explained to her that she had been feeling bad since this morning and that it wasn’t the restaurant’s fault. Spinner came by and offered to get her a free cup of herbal tea to make her feel better. She took him up eagerly.

An hour later, she was now home and setting up a luxurious milk bath for herself using the bath products her mother got her for her birthday. It was only four but it took her like two hours to get ready for big events.

While running the bath water, she decided to see what was in the box Eli gifted her. She pulled off the ribbon on top of the box that was restricting it, and then took the lid off.

“Oh my god…,” Marisol gasped out loud when she saw what it was. She pulled out a long, soft pink halter dress that was back-less and appeared to have a slit in the skirt section. It was gorgeous and her kind of dress.

Wherever Eli was taking her, it was obviously somewhere very fancy.

* * *

At five, the anxiety of whether or not Marisol would actually like the surprise waiting for her was starting to sink in.

Eli felt himself sweating as he started to get ready for the party. As the steaming hot water from the shower poured over him, he thought about the way he was going all out for a girl he had only been dating for two months. 

Marisol was nearly his complete opposite. They didn’t share the same taste in music, the same taste in style, the same taste in movies or tv shows, and even their taste in drinking coffee was different. He liked his coffee black with no cream or sugar while she couldn’t drink it without a heavy amount of both of those things. They shouldn’t work as a long term thing, and in most cases this would be a more casual relationship.

But he was starting to actually fall in love with her, and with that, he had to show her how deeply he was falling. He had never been with a girl like Marisol, and perhaps that was the charm of it all. She was different from Julia, Clare, Imogen, and Lenore but the differences were positive instead of negative.

Marisol may have not been interested in dissecting the complexities of Citizen Kane with him, but she understood what it was like to have passion for something you loved, and she put that passion towards makeup. In the conversations they had about careers, she knew what she wanted to do with her love for makeup and was determined to see it happen. She wanted to own her own makeup line with a concentration on lipgloss. It was why she majored in business at the university of Toronto.

Her dreams were very different than his own, but no less strong, and that’s what mattered to him. Maybe it was the passion that was connecting them beyond their differences. 

In the short time he had really gotten to know her, Marisol Lewis had shown him a new side of her beyond the mean girl persona she hid behind in high school. She was a very sweet, caring, funny, and adorable girl and her big smile alone was enough to brighten his day up. Mo openly catered to Marisol’s every need in high school, and he could now see why. She deserved it.

_ ‘And everything is so much easier now that my friends no longer hate her,’  _ he thought to himself. Marisol recently had Katie apologize to Imogen for her shitty treatment of her as well, and now the tension between their friend groups was completely gone. With that one hurdle gone, they were just vibing together now.

Everything was coming together for them, and for the first time in awhile, Eli felt at peace.

* * *

At quarter to seven, Marisol looked over her appearance in the mirror one last time.

She paired the dress Eli bought her with a pair of pink teardrop earrings, gold body glitter, and pink sandals that had a tall heel and ankle straps. She was going to tower over Eli tonight, but the shoes fit her dress too perfectly for her to wear something else. Yesterday, she had gotten a new set of pastel acrylic nails with a ballerina tip at the salon. Each ring finger had a confetti print finish on the nail. It matched her dress and makeup perfectly.

For her makeup she was wearing pink eyeshadow, pink blush, and pink lip gloss. Her curly hair was pulled up into a bun with strands falling around her face. She wore a ring made up of pink pearls on her right hand.

She smiled in pride at how good she looked. No matter where Eli was taking her, she was going to be the sexiest woman in the room guaranteed.  _ ‘He knows me so well,’ _ she thought. The dress was perfect, even if it was a little tight around her waist.

Grabbing her purse, she left her room and handed downstairs where her mother was. She was watching an episode of  _ The Real Housewives of Atlanta _ , and was completely immersed in the show until she came down.

“My goodness, baby. You look like a Hollywood startled! Where is this boy taking you?” Her mother exclaimed in shock while looking her up and down.

“Apparently some place extremely fancy,” Marisol answered excitedly as she turned around so her mother could get a good look at the back.

“Does Eli have a single uncle that’s looking for love?” Her mother asked lightheartedly.

“Unfortunately no,” she replied in amusement. Just then there was a knock on the door. Eli was here. She walked over and opened the door.

Her boyfriend was in a black tuxedo with a soft pink vest and bowtie was not a sight she was expected to see at all, not when he despised the color. But nonetheless he had a big smile planted on his handsome face.

“Hey, there’s the birthday girl!” He greeted cheerfully, before looking inside. “Hello, Martina!” He then greeted her mother.

“Hello, Eli! Don’t you look handsome!” Her mother greeted back.

“Ready to go?” He asked her as he took her hand.

“Yeah,” She confirmed with a smile. “See you later, Mama!” She told her mother as her boyfriend led her outside. When her mother said bye back, she closed the door behind her.

That’s when she noticed the black limousine.

“You rented a limo for us? Eli, where are you taking me?” Marisol asked him in shock as they approached it.

“Just wait and see,” he simply answered as he opened the passenger door up for her. To her even greater shock, Jake, Katie, Fiona, Imogen, Adam, and Becky were all inside the limo dressed in formal wear. 

They all greeted her in various ways while her mind was scrambling to figure out what was going on. As she took her place next to Katie, she tried to find something to say.

“Hey guys...,” she addressed everyone as the limo driver drove off from her house.

“Are you ready for the BEST birthday ever?” Jake asked her cheerfully.

She glanced at Eli, who only smirked at her in response.

* * *

The surprise on his girlfriend’s face was very entertaining and he knew she was about to be even more surprised soon. He also knew she was starting to get impatient.

Marisol had an antsy smile on her face as she chatted with Fiona and Imogen while drinking a glass of champagne. Her, Imogen, Katie, Jake, and him were the only ones in the limo who were allowed to. Well, Fiona technically could but she preferred not to due to her past history of alcoholism.

“This is certainly some fancy smancy champagne,” Imogen remarked before gulping down her glass in one drink.

“Woah, woah. Let’s wait until we get there to let loose like that,” Eli chastised his friend.

“Relax, Eli. I’m only drinking this one glass for now,” she assured him, and he only eyed her wearily in response.

“Is the place we’re going to have more alcohol?” Marisol asked him, and he could see it in her eyes that she was starving for any more hints at this point.

“Yes,” he answered vaguely.

“Well it must be some place if we all have to be dressed like this,” she replied.

“Only the most amazing place, you’re gonna love it,” he promised her. She softly smiled, and he took a minute to appreciate how gorgeous she looked right now. He knew the dress was going to look good on her and that’s why he bought it despite despising the color pink.

It would be fifteen more minutes of all of them talking amongst themselves before the limo driver pulled up to the entrance of the country club.

“Emerald Velvet? Isn’t this like the most exclusive country club in the city?” Marisol questioned as her eyes went as wide as saucers. 

“It is. But luckily you’re dating the grandson of the owners,” Eli explained, and somehow Marisol’s eyes got even wider.

_ “What?!”  _ She exclaimed in disbelief.

“I know, sometimes I don’t believe it myself,” he joked. As the limo driver stopped the vehicle, everyone unbuckled themselves and got out of the car.

“Marisol Lewis, prepared to be amazed,” Eli proclaimed as he led out his girlfriend out of the limo by hand.

Marisol could only look around the country club in wonder.

* * *

Whatever Eli was taking her in this country club, she wasn’t ready for.

Marisol felt her heart racing as their group walked around inside the private club. The place was just as exquisite as she imagined with marble floors, velvet rugs, classic paintings, and well dressed staff.

_ ‘I can’t believe I’m actually here. I can’t believe my boyfriend is this freaking rich,’  _ she thought numbly to herself. She would have NEVER guessed Eli came from this level of wealth even after he told her his mother grew up rich. The Emerald Velvet club was rumored to be for the elites in the city, and some of the prominent celebrities stayed in the guest rooms. She thought she would never see the inside of this place in her lifetime. She realized that even if Eli came off as arrogant and pretentious, he was actually really humble to have never bragged about being rich like this.

Eli stopped everyone in front of a big blue door. “Well Mare, are you ready to see what’s inside?” He asked her with an excited smile as everyone turned to look at her expectantly.

“Um...yeah,” she struggled to say, as her stomach tightened in anticipation of what was waiting for her. Eli broke apart from her and went to the door and grabbed the golden handle.

When he first opened the door, the lights in the room were completely off and she didn’t know what she was supposed to be looking at as she stepped inside.

Then two seconds later, she found out.

“SURPRISE!” A dozen voices cried out to her as the lights flickered on, and Marisol gasped out loud for the second time that day.

The room was actually a ballroom, and there were a crowd of people inside, mostly people she recognized from high school. 

This was a birthday party.

“Oh my...oh my...God….,” She stuttered as she looked around the room, and the decorations were the second things that took her by surprise.

The theme was obviously Paris, as there was a giant, brightly lit up replica of the Eiffel Tower in the center of the room with a small fountain in front of it, a wallpaper of Paris at night with the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe being featured and glowing silhouettes in the background, fake pathways resembling cobblestones on the floor with mini lights, lighted up lamp posts, lighted up cherry blossom trees, and a big wire arch.

Each table had a sparkling black covering with gold accents, lit candles in the center, and gold colored champagne glasses. Gold drapes hung from the ceilings, along with lights resembling stars.

But there weren't just french-themed decorations.

There was also a chocolate fountain on one table along with other sorted desserts, and an ice prop made up of her name on the other. The smell of french cuisine hit her nose. There was a photo section with an accompanying booth by the fake Arc de Triomphe.

“You didn’t get the prom night you deserved...so I decided that for your birthday, what better way to show much I care about you then to give you another prom?” He explained while gently taking her hand again.

Marisol felt like she was about to faint.

* * *

His girlfriend was in a deep shock that he wasn’t able to shake her out of yet even as he sat her down at a table for dinner. It was the biggest table in the room and other than them, Katie, Jake, Adam, Becky, Fiona, and Imogen were also sitting at the table. 

There were over thirty guests that he invited, and he only allowed one additional guest for each person. From Degrassi, he had invited the following people: Drew, Bianca, Mo, Dallas, Alli, Dave, Connor, Clare, KC, Chantay, and Maya. Connor brought Jenna, who...clearly didn’t want to be here but acted as civil as possible, and Katie’s little sister had brought some kid he recognized as the son of the guy running for office. He had also invited Peter who brought Clare’s sister along as a date. Clare’s sister apparently was one of Marisol’s Power Squad captains her freshman year and wanted to see how she was doing.

He begrudgingly invited Fitz, who also had a date. Spinner also came with his wife Emma, who also knew Marisol in high school. Anya Macpherson, who was briefly home from the military, came with her boyfriend Owen. He wasn’t a huge fan of that considering he used to date Marisol and treated her like shit according to her, but Marisol didn’t raise a fuss so far. Several of Marisol’s other fellow teammates on the Power Squad also came.

With the loud music blaring throughout the room, this whole event definitely felt like prom all over again. To see everything was going well was a good feeling and the night was only going to get better.

Two staff members, who he knew since he was a kid, came by with a basket of bread while they all ate. Their names were Tabitha and Pearl.

“Would anyone like some more bread?” Tabitha asked them with a pleasant smile.

“I’ll take some more of that,” Jake answered eagerly as she put some pieces on his plate. He was sitting next to Katie, who was smiling adoringly at him. He didn’t know why they just couldn’t get back together when they were clearly still in love with each other.

“This is delicious,” Marisol commented in awe before taking a bite of her stuffed chicken breast. The menu for the party consisted of apple and walnut stuffed chicken, herbed Basmati rice, herb roasted potatoes, blackened trout, steakhouse asparagus, butternut squash soup, and spinach salad with wild mushrooms, pine nuts, and goat cheese. It was the perfect menu for a French-themed party.

“I know. I’ll have to give my personal thanks to the kitchen staff after this,” he agreed.

“Eli, you really organized this whole thing beautifully. It feels like I’m actually in Paris,” Fiona complimented him.

“Thank my grandmother for having the vision to put this whole thing together within a short time span,” he replied.

“She wouldn’t have done it if you didn’t give her the idea though, and none of this would be happening if you didn’t go all out for the birthday girl,” she reasoned.

“This just doesn’t feel real,” he heard Marisol whisper to herself.

“Well it’s real. This is all for you, Princess,” he replied warmly. She smiled in response, and there was a sparkle in her eyes.

“I’m glad this champagne is real…,” Imogen said before finishing off her second glass of the drink that night. Red was starting to grow on her cheeks. Eli flashed Fiona a warning look to get a handle on her girlfriend before she got truly hammered. “It tastes like melted gold!” Imogen exclaimed cheerfully.

“How would you know what melted gold tastes like?” Adam asked her in amusement.

“I don’t but it probably tastes like magic,” Imogen reasoned.

“This is just so romantic and sweet,” Becky swooned, “I feel so fancy!”

“Same, this is more classy than the usual date at The Dot,” Jake agreed.

“How did you get everyone to come tonight?” Marisol questioned him.

“I made a private group for the party and pretty much added everyone in it except you. This needed to be a complete surprise for you,” Eli answered.

“How can I even begin to thank you for….everything?” 

“Well for starters Eli rented-,” Imogen started to say, only for him to quickly silence her with a look. But Marisol was very curious now.

“Rented a what?” She asked him. “What more could you have possibly done for me?” 

“You’ll see,” he promised.

Excitement lit up in Marisol’s eyes at that response.

* * *

The atmosphere around the room was very warm and joyful.

As she took pictures with Eli, with Katie, with her friends, and with his friends, Marisol could not think of a nicer thing someone had done for her on her birthday. Mo had got her a beautiful pair of pearl earrings and a matching necklace and took her out to a nice French restaurant but Eli had gotten her a dress, an edible arrangement, and gave her a party at a freaking country club. She was never going to forget this night even if she tried.

This was all so magical. 

“You want to dance?” Eli asked her after they got done taking their fifth couple’s picture together.

“Yeah….,” she said, while biting her lip in desire at how good her boyfriend looked tonight. In the tux he was wearing, Eli looked very sexy and she definitely needed to show him tonight how appreciative she was of him for planning this party for her.

He led her to the dance floor where several other couples were dancing together. Then, he wrapped his arms around her waist while she threw her arms around his neck in return. 

“You’re beyond beautiful tonight,” he told her wistfully.

“Thank you, Eli,” she replied sweetly as they swayed along to a song together. She wasn’t really paying attention to the song as she was more focused on her boyfriend right now.

“You’re always beautiful, but you’re  _ glowing _ right now,” he pointed out.

“Because of you, babe. The fact that you did all of this for me is bringing me a feeling that I can’t describe yet. You’re giving me a dream birthday I didn’t even think was possible,” she replied as she tried not to cry. But a knot was starting to grow in her throat.

“I’m the master of schemes. I can make anything possible,” he boasted. 

“Clearly,” she agreed. Then she froze as one of her favorite songs started to play. It was The Lady of My Life by Michael Jackson. 

“Eli…,” she began to say.

“You want this to be our song right?” He asked her with a warm smile while pulling her tighter to him. “Let’s dance,” he said as the song started to play.

_ “There’ll be no darkness tonight,  _

_ Lady our love will shine _

_ Lighting the night _

_ Just put your trust in my heart _

_ And meet me in paradise _

_ Now is the time...” _

She could feel everyone’s eyes on her, on them. Marisol tried not to look at anyone but Eli, or else she would get a little nervous despite normally enjoying this kind of attention. 

“ _ Girl...You're every wonder in this world to me _

_ A treasure time won't steal away… _

_ So listen to my heart _

_ Lay your body close to mine _

_ Let me fill you with my dreams _

_ I can make you feel alright _

_ And, baby, through the years _

_ Going to love you more each day _

_ So I promise you tonight _

_ That you will always be the lady in my life...” _

The way he was looking at her tonight was a little different than usual. His green eyes were full of tenderness, full of passion, full of…

_ Love. _

For her.

_ “Lay back in my tenderness _

_ Let's make this a night we won't forget _

_ Girl, I need your sweet caress, oh _

_ Reach out to a fantasy _

_ Two hearts in a beat of ecstasy _

_ Come to me, girl…” _

The longer the song went on, the more her heart started to race. As cliche as it sounded, right now nothing in the world mattered more than her and her boyfriend in this moment. 

_ “And I will keep you warm through the shadows of the night _

_ Let me touch you with my love _

_ I can make you feel so right _

_ And, baby, through the years even when we're old and gray _

_ I will love you more each day _

_ 'Cause you will always be the lady in my life...” _

She saw the flash from a camera hit them, and she knew it was a professional photographer taking pictures of this dance between them. Marisol looked around the room for a brief moment and saw that Katie was also recording this moment with her phone. Her friend smiled at her and she smiled back.

_ “Stay with me _

_ I want you to stay with me _

_ I need you by my side _

_ Don't you go nowhere _

_ (Ooh, girl, let me keep you warm) _

_ Let me keep you warm _

_ (You are the lady in my life) _

_ You're my lady _

_ (Feel you with the sweetest love) _

_ I want to squeeze you _

_ (Always the lady in my life) _

_ I want to touch you, baby _

_ (Lay back in my tenderness) _

_ (You are the lady in my life) _

_ (Rock me with your sweet caress) _

_ (Always the lady in my life) _

_ You're my lady and I love you, girl _

_ (Ooh, girl, let me keep you warm) _

_ (You are the lady in my life) _

_ Don't you go nowhere _

_ (Feel you with the sweetest love) _

_ (Always the lady in my life) _

_ I love you I, love you, I need you, I want you, baby _

_ (Lay back in my tenderness) _

_ Stay with me _

_ (You are the lady in my life) _

_ Don't you go nowhere _

_ (Rock me with your sweet caress) _

_ And I love you, baby _

_ (Always the lady in my life) _

_ Woo, ooh, baby _

_ Don't go nowhere _

_ You're my lady _

_ All through the night....” _

Eli’s hands traveled down to her lower back, and she sighed in pleasure at the feel of him on his bare skin. Even though she was a little taller than her boyfriend at the moment, she still tried to bury her face in his neck as the song reached its peak.

_ “(Ooh, girl, let me keep you warm) _

_ I want to give you all _

_ (You are the lady in my life) _

_ In my life _

_ (Feel you with the sweetest love) _

_ Let me be your baby _

_ (Always the lady in my life) _

_ All over, all over, all over _

_ (Lay back in my tenderness) _

_ Lay back with me _

_ (You are the lady in my life) _

_ Let me touch you, girl _

_ (Rock me with your sweet caress) _

_ Lay back with me _

_ (Always the lady in my life) _

_ All over, all over, all over _

_ (Ooh, girl, let me keep you warm) _

_ All over, all over _

_ (You are the lady in my life) _

_ All over, all over, baby, woo _

_ (Fill you with the sweetest love) _

_ (Always the lady in my life) _

_ You're my lady _

_ (Lay back in my tenderness) _

_ You're my lady, babe _

_ (You are the lady in my life).....” _

When the song was over, she only had one question.

“When can we leave?”

* * *

It was almost time to take Marisol away to the cottage, and he was definitely ready for what was going to happen there but first, she needed to eat her birthday cake.

“Mmm, this is  _ so _ good,” Marisol said to Katie at their table as she ate on a slice of her birthday cake. The cake he and Katie had decided for her was a chocolate cake shaped like a tube of lip gloss with pink fondant and chocolate strawberries surrounding it.

“I knew you would like it,” Katie replied happily as she took her own bite of the cake. Before her and Jake entered the photo booth to take a picture as “friends”, Katie’s hair was nicely curled and bounced around her shoulders. After her and Jake left the photo booth, her hair was a little wild and her red lipstick was a little smeared.

It was obvious to everyone what went on between them in just a couple minutes.

“So you and Jake….,” Marisol mentioned to her best friend with a suggestive smile and a mischievous glint in her eyes.

“...Are gonna talk over his house after this,” Katie replied, and he could see it in her eyes that she was very  _ elated  _ at the thought. He also had a feeling that they weren’t going to do much talking.

“I told you he still wanted you. Now you can show him how much you missed him,” his girlfriend said.

“How?” Katie asked her, and he tried not to snort.

“I think we both know…,” Marisol answered as the girls shared a giggle.

“You  _ really  _ are in love with this girl, aren’t you Elijah?” His grandmother asked him in amusement as she approached him.

“Maybe…,” he answered as he continued to look at his girlfriend interact with her friend.

“It’s not maybe, dear. You are absolutely enamored with her, and I can see why. She’s a wonderful girl,” her grandmother remarked.

“She is,” he agreed. She waited a few minutes for her next words.

“I think it’s time you showed her the cottage, don’t you think?” She suggested. He turned to face her in confusion.

“We still have an hour left of the party,” he pointed out, only for her to shrug.

“And it’s getting late. You don’t want to wait until she’s tired now, don’t you?” His grandmother questioned with a smirk. It nearly made him blush.

“Grandmom….”

“Take your girlfriend, now. I’ll have the staff handle the cleanup,” she assured him and the teasing tone was strong in her voice.

“Thanks…,” he replied in gratitude as he started walking to his girlfriend.

“Have fun!” He heard his grandmother exclaim and he almost wanted to shrivel up in embarrassment.

But the strong desire for Marisol was overpowering everything right now.

* * *

When another limo driver dropped them off in front of a private cottage with a patio, Marisol’s eyes widened in surprise once again. Every time she thought today couldn’t get better, it did.

Eli’s face was plastered with a prideful smile as he led her out of the car, and gave the driver a wave before he pulled off. “Well, let’s see what’s inside,” he said as he pulled out a pair of keys with his free hand. With his other hand, he held hers as they walked up the steps to the cottage together.

He opened the door, and she looked around in awe at the inside of the cottage. There was a small but cute kitchen, a small fireplace, rugs made of fur, mahogany floors, velvet furniture, beautiful paintings, and a spiral staircase leading to upstairs. She could see a tiny sliver of the bathroom, which already looked to be fancy.

“Wow....,” she remarked. She didn’t even know where to begin.

“This isn’t even the best part. Follow me,” Eli replied as he pulled her along up the steps. Her stomach tightened in anticipation as what was waiting for her. There was another bathroom, and a common space with a flat screen T.V. and seats. That left the bedroom, which had a closed door. Eli let go of her hand to open it.

Marisol gasped when she saw what was inside.

The king-sized bed inside the bed was covered in satin bedding and pastel pink flower petals. Candles were lit around the room as the scent of sweet vanilla sugar filled her nose. There was a big bottle of champagne on the nightstand next to the bed.

“I....,” she trailed off, not knowing what to say as she stepped inside the room.

“You like?” He asked her.

“It’s so beautiful,” she answered before biting her lip, “All this for me...why?” She asked as she looked at him in confusion.

“Because after giving you the perfect prom, I want to give you the perfect prom night you deserve,” he answered. 

For some reason, his answer brought tears to her eyes. She reached out and caressed his face with her hands. “We’ve only been dating for two months, Eli,” she reminded him. She couldn’t believe that everything that was happening so far was real. It was straight out of a scene from the best romance novel.

“And within these two months, I can only come to one conclusion. I love you, Marisol Lewis,” he confessed boldly to her, and suddenly she couldn’t breathe.

Marisol’s heart was hammering in her chest at the reveal. He told her that he loved her, and she could see it in his eyes that he was serious. She couldn’t believe everything in their relationship was happening so fast, but it seemed so natural.

“You do?” She asked in a small voice.

“I do,” he confirmed and she could feel her heart explode.

“I love you too,” she confessed back as she ran her fingers through his soft, beautiful curls. In the candlelight, she could see the golden highlights in his hair. He was shining brighter than her in the moment. She blinked as tears started to stream down her face.

He smiled warmly as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his embrace. “Then the only reasonable thing we can do next is make love,” he replied in a husky tone of voice. He reached up and wiped her tears away. “A beauty like you shouldn’t cry on her birthday,” he said softly.

She smiled back before leaning forward, and their lips connected in a sweet kiss. She would probably never get tired of how unexpectedly soft his lips felt against hers. She could kiss him forever if she could.

Within the next few seconds, the kiss quickly got heated. She moaned as Eli’s tongue rolled over hers. He squeezed her hip tightly as well. She pulled away from him, but not before biting on his bottom lip gently. She started to get down on her knees in front of him when he stopped her.

“No. Tonight’s your birthday, and I want to take care of you,” he said as he pulled her up and kissed her deeply again. Marisol could barely feel her feet move as Eli led her to the bed. He reached behind and undid the straps holding her dress together for her. He then pulled her dress down and she let it fall to the floor, leaving her only in a pair of satin pink panties.

“I love it when you don’t wear a bra for me, Mare,” he replied with a smirk as he pushed her gently onto the bed. Marisol felt like she was laying on a big marshmallow with how soft it felt. 

“Easy access for you,” she purred as he took her heels off. He rubbed one of her feet gingerly before getting up and beginning to strip for her. She watched in desire as her boyfriend slowly got naked. He was putting on a show for her while wearing the sexiest smirk he ever had on his face. It was already causing her to go damp in her underwear.

When Eli was done, he climbed on top of her and their lips connected in a sensual kiss. She felt herself heat up in desire as her boyfriend’s hands roamed her body. The cold feel of his hands against her skin gave her goosebumps. She moaned again when he gripped both of her breasts with his big hands. He leaned into her ear.

“I’m glad we have this cottage so I can spend all of this time on giving you all of the orgasms you deserve for being a good girl,” he whispered in her ear while playing with one of her nipples. His dick brushed up against her inner thigh, and she wondered how long it was going to be before he was inside of her. She knew he wanted to take his time with her, but if he took too long she was going to get desperate.

“Yes please,” she simply replied, and shuddered in pleasure as he licked behind her ear before trailing down her face and neck with hot, wet kisses. She bucked underneath him as he left love bites all over her neck, throat, collarbone, and chest. Every touch from him felt like fire on her skin. The entire lower half of her body felt like it was sizzling.

When Eli reached her breasts, he peppered them each with soft, wet kisses. He then flickered his tongue over one of her nipples. Marisol threw her head back in bliss as he began to suck on it hungrily while massaging the other one. “That’s right, baby. Like that,” she encouraged while snapping her hips underneath him. He switched back and forth between her nipples until they both hardened in his mouth. He pulled back from her with a wet pop before traveling down her body. He licked between her breasts and down her stomach. A weird feeling creeped up in her when he kissed her belly button but it still felt good.

He lifted himself up to kiss her for a moment. She kissed back while squeezing his hip. He then looked down at her with a look of pure love, and she had never felt more desired in her life.

“I don’t know how to explain this but you’re a perfect mix of cute and sexy,” he complimented as he gently parted her legs.

“Thank you,” she purred.

“No thank you for being perfect. I can’t think of anything else but you right now,” he replied before traveling down her body again, this time reaching all the way down to her wet panties. Her stomach tightened in anticipation as he slowly pulled her panties off with his teeth before throwing them over the bed. He then nuzzled her face between her damp thighs, making her moan at the feel of his curly hair against her sensitive skin.

She cried when he flicked his tongue over her clit. It caused her to start bucking immediately, and she began to pant as he licked around her pearl in circles while inserting a finger inside of her. “Fuck...oh God...Eli don’t stop!” Marisol cried out in pleasure.

“I don’t plan to,” he reassured her before sucking on her clit, making her cry even harder. As he inserted another finger to pump inside of her with, she felt herself grow weak in her knees while her boyfriend pleasured her.

She looked down on him to see him staring into her intensely with his emerald eyes. “Baby....,” she whimpered, and it only motivated him to eat her out more vigorously. Each passing second was Eli Goldsworthy bringing her closer to euphoria, and she could feel her climax coming soon. She ran her fingers through his soft curls, massaging his scalp.

“Eli!” She cried out minutes later as her release flooded his waiting mouth. She then threw her head back down on the pillow while breathing haggardly. Her boyfriend crawled back up to her and in the dim candlelight, she could see her juices on his face.

“This is what I love about you. You look so good while cumming for me,” he said before leaning down and giving her a searing kiss. Marisol kissed him back for a moment before pushing him away.

“Well continue making me cum. Fuck me, please,” she begged, desperate for him to be inside of her now. 

“Your wish is my command,” Eli replied with a sexy smirk as he positioned himself between her legs. He stroked himself in front of her before he hardened. When he then pushed himself inside of her, she cried out in response. She could feel him throbbing inside of her. He buried himself in her neck as he started hitting her with slow, deep strokes. She wrapped her legs around his waist and held on tightly to his back in response. She was taking great care to not accidentally scratch up his back this time. There was no need to kill the mood.

She reached down and grabbed his left hand as he thrusted in and out of her. He held her hand tightly in return, and the small intimate act was bringing her over the edge. “Elijah….,” she moaned out.

“That’s right, Princess. Say my name just like that,” he whispered into her ear, and she gasped when he hit a particular deep spot inside of her.

“Mmm, right there!” Marisol cried out as she reached down and squeezed his ass. When he took that as a sign to slam harder inside of her, she felt herself get light-headed as her stomach tightened in arousal. But as romantic as this moment was, she didn’t want to finish in this position. “Eli stopppppp,” she begged, and he stopped immediately. “Is something the matter?” He asked in concern.

“Pull out of me for a second,” she ordered, and he complied with a confused look on his face. She simply rolled over on her stomach and lifted her ass up in the air for him. 

“Oh,” he replied as she felt him get behind her. She moaned when he slid himself fully inside of her again and continued thrusting. Clutching the bedsheets, she whimpered in pleasure as she felt her stomach tighten again. She felt her walls clenched down around his cock and moaned. 

“You like that, birthday girl?” She heard him growl. She only bit her lip in response, which caused him to give her ass a rough slap. She cried out at the action, which made him do it again.

“Ye-yeah...,” she managed to get out while looking back at him. Eli with sweat pouring down his body, his hair matted down around around his face, and that dark look in his eyes while fucking her was the sexiest sight and while she loved it when he took charge. She gasped when she felt his finger on her clit. Him rubbing it while continuing to thrust caused her to let out a scream she was sure any living organism in the area could hear. She hoped no one rented the cottage next to them.

“That’s right, scream like the good girl you are. You deserve it,” he encouraged before pumping in and out of her hard and erratically, a signal to her that he was about to cum. She was too, especially with him continuing to rub circles around her clit. The pleasure she was feeling in this moment wasn’t describable. She could only say that he was taking her to highs she thought she couldn’t reach.

It would be a few minutes before she couldn’t take it any longer.

“ELI!” Marisol cried out as she finally came, her vision blackening for a few seconds. He continued to fuck her through her orgasm until he suddenly slammed as hard into her as possible, his seed rutting deep inside of her. When he pulled out, it was slow as always while she was shaking. She rolled back onto her back and panted heavily.

Eli leaned down and kissed her gently on her forehead.

“Happy birthday, Mare,” he simply said with a soft, tired smile.

* * *

Eli woke up hours later as the sun was beginning to rise. 

He was spooning Marisol, who was sleeping peacefully with a soft smile on her face. He kissed her cheek before getting out of the bed and putting some clothes on from the dressers. He was careful to not wake her up. She was too beautiful when she slept.  _ ‘She’s always too beautiful, though, isn’t she?’  _ He thought to himself, and it was true. It didn’t matter what she was doing, she was going to look gorgeous while doing it. Sex was one of the moments where she was at her most beautiful, as the sight of her naked, unkempt, and writhing for him was almost heavenly. The face she made every time he brought her to climax was enough for him to climax as well most of the time. She was simply a goddess in his eyes.

He came downstairs, walked out to the patio, and then sat on a chair swing to watch the sunrise. Right now the sky was a mixture of baby blue, lavender, and pink. With the lake setting and quiet atmosphere, the sight was beautiful. The only sound he could hear was birds chirping.

As a kid, he used to hate staying with his grandparents here because he found the whole resort to be boring, but as an adult he could appreciate it more now, especially with the prospect of spending a day or two in solitude with his girlfriend.

“You’re not usually up this early,” he heard Marisol remark as he immediately snapped out of his thoughts. He turned to see her in the satin lavender night robe he bought her. It was a little tighter around her waist than expected.

“Decided to watch the sunrise,” he replied.

“Well, can I join you?” She asked while folding her arms.

“Of course,” he answered as she sat down next to him on the chair. The chair started to slowly swing underneath them.

“I can’t even begin to express how thankful I am for last night, Eli. I don’t think I ever had a more magical birthday,” Marisol thanked him sincerely.

“Well I’m glad. It’s what you deserve, Mare,” he replied. She then took his hand.

“Did you really mean everything you said last night about loving me?” She asked him.

“Without a doubt, yes. I’m falling in love with you,” he reassured her while staring deeply into her eyes. 

Tears sprung up in her eyes like they did last night, and he wondered why she was so emotional about everything lately. It was a little concerning. He reached over and gently wiped her tears away. “Don’t cry, Mare. I don’t like seeing a beauty like you cry over me,” he told her.

“I can’t help it. You make me feel so good, Eli. Within these past two months, I have been feeling so loved like it’s been going on for a lifetime,” she replied while sniffling.

“Because in the short time we’ve been together, I’ve come to really care about you. This is the most I’ve been relaxed in a relationship. When I’m with you, I don’t feel like I have to constantly prove my love or worry about the next big fight we have, I can just have fun with you and that’s why I love you. This is all very unexpected but I’m glad this is happening,” he explained to her.

“I wish it didn’t take me until after high school to realize what a wonderful person you are Eli Goldsworthy,” Marisol expressed in regret.

“It’s okay, Mare. I’m sorry that I didn’t allow myself to see what amazing girl you are back then as well. We let silly high school stereotypes keep us apart, but now that we moved past that, we’re truly flourishing. Let’s celebrate that by spending the whole day here. What should we do next?” He asked her.

“I don’t know, what can we do here besides have sex in the cottage?” She asked.

“Well for starters, we also have a hot tub over there….,” he answered while pointed at the object in question. It was currently locked up but he had the key to open it up in the cottage.

“A hot tub? For us?” She asked again with widened eyes. He smirked at her surprise. 

“For us to do whatever we would like in it,” he confirmed as his mind immediately went to sex. 

“Mmm, I like that for later but right now I just want to sit here with you,” she admitted. 

“Whatever you want. It’s your birthday and we have all the time in the world,” he replied as he wrapped his arm around her. She smiled before kissing him tenderly on the lips. He responded, and they shared a sweet kiss before she pulled away and laid her head on his shoulder.

For the next hour or so, they simply enjoyed each other’s presence while the sun rose for the day and the chair swung softly beneath them.


	13. Can You Stand The Rain?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So back in like October, or something, I made a poll on Twitter with no question, just a simple yes or no option. Majority of my followers voted yes without knowing the context.
> 
> The thing that has been hinted at since chapter seven and is now being outright revealed in this chapter is the result of that poll. Enjoy :)))))
> 
> Song title is Can You Stand The Rain? by New Edition.

_August_

Her face was definitely rounder than normal.

“I look like a fucking pancake in the face,” Marisol said to herself in horror as she looked at her appearance in Katie’s bathroom mirror. Her face was puffy, her waist was thickening, and her boobs hurt like hell. _‘I’m gaining weight,’_ she reasoned, and she was horrified at the idea after she had been controlling what she was eating since after her birthday party.

She looked disgusting.

She felt her eyes water up at the thought of Eli no longer finding her attractive anymore due to her current looks. With him going back to NYU soon, he was going to be surrounded by hotter, sexier girls who still had nice contoured faces, and super thin waists. She was going to be dumped again before fall break. The thought made her nauseous.

“Mare, where’s the oatmeal for the sugar scrubs?” She heard Katie ask before she walked in wearing a charcoal facemask and a blue bathrobe. She was over Katie’s house because Katie wanted them to give each other an at-home spa treatment. It was one of the last activities they were going to do before Katie flew back to California next week for Stanford. When Katie saw her tears, her BFF’s face quickly shifted in concern. “Babe, what’s wrong?” 

“I’m fucking hideous, that’s what! Look at me!” Marisol exclaimed. Her friend tilted her head in confusion.

“What am I looking at? You’re gorgeous as always,” Katie replied.

“Katie, I’m getting fat around my face and hips,” she answered sharply.

“I don’t really see it.”

“ _Don’t_ lie to me.”

“I’m not! I don’t see anything wrong with you, Mare. I think you’re nitpicking your appearance again. You do it all of the time.”

“Well this time is valid. Not only do I look gross right now, I feel gross right now!”

“I’m sorry, Mare,” Katie told her in sorrow as she stepped behind her in the mirror and put her hands gently on her shoulders, “I don’t know what’s going on but despite what you think, you’re not gross right now. You’re still my drop dead gorgeous best friend.”

“I wish I could believe that,” Marisol replied while sniffling.

“Why don’t you come back downstairs and help me make the sugar scrubs to feel better? And then we can order pizza,” her friend offered.

“I think pizza would be bad for me right now,” Marisol lamented.

“One slice isn’t going to break you into pieces, hun. Come on,” Katie insisted as she led out of the bathroom.

Marisol was still sniffling as they went back downstairs.

* * *

That morning, Eli wasn’t really in the best mood as he drove Fiona to the airport with Imogen accompanying them.

“It feels like the time we had together was too short, Fifi,” Imogen expressed in sadness.

“Because it was,” Fiona replied, “I really wish we had at least one more day together.” It was the beginning of August, and Fiona’s mentor wanted her back to continue her apprenticeship in Italy. While he was spending time with Marisol, Fiona and Imogen were spending their last day completely wrapped up in each other to the point where neither of them answered his phone calls.

August was shaping up to be a sad month as nearly everyone, including himself, was leaving Toronto again. Fiona was going to back to Italy, Imogen was going to OCAD, Dave was going to be a new cast member on West Drive, Adam was heading to Ryerson, Mo was going back to UBC, Jake was remaining here in Toronto, and he himself will be driving back to NYU in two weeks. Once again, the Fellowship was breaking apart.

“We’ll simply have to talk as much as possible! And maybe I can visit you sometime? I have family in Florence,” Imogen suggested.

“A study abroad trip! And then we can tour all of Europe together!” Fiona replied cheerfully.

“Meanwhile, I’m going to be in New York city all by myself again,” he pointed out, and he tried not to come off as bitter but he did. He was already missing his friends, his family, and especially Marisol.

He was going to miss his girlfriend most of all.

 _‘The three months we spent together feels like a lifetime but at the same time it feels too short,’_ he thought to himself while thinking of all the things he was going to miss about her. He was going to miss the way she giggled while teasing him, the way her brown skin glowed like gold in the summer sun, the way her soft lips felt against his own when they kissed, and the way her dark eyes sparkled when they talked.

He was probably going to miss her smile more than anything.

“Aww pookie, don’t be sad. We can all still talk to each other!” Fiona lightly teased him.

“Call me pookie again and I’m ignoring your calls from Italy for a month,” he warned as his best friends snickered.

“Grouch, much?” Imogen asked him.

“Well, when your girlfriend is in a constantly bad mood, I would assume you would be in a bad mood as well, Imogen,” Eli countered dryly.

“Aww, what’s wrong with you and Marisol?”

“It feels like she’s always either irritable or sad these days, and I don’t know why. Our sex life has also been terrible lately,” he complained.

“Eww TMI,” Imogen replied while wrinkling her nose.

“Well it’s true! She’s either not in the mood, or when she is, there’s no sparks between us. Everything feels clinical,” he explained as he thought about their last four sexual encounters recently. Everything felt restricted as he couldn’t do anything with her breasts, she didn’t moan as much as she used to, and they usually only did one round these days.

It was very weird.

“Maybe there’s something going on with her that she’s not telling you,” Fiona suggested. “She’s probably sad over you leaving soon.”

“I’m sad too but at least I’m trying to make the best of the time we have left,” he replied defensively.

“Do something special for her. Take her somewhere nice like a restaurant, or have a picnic with her. Maybe Marisol just needs something romantic,” she advised.

“Hmm, well I’ll try to plan something soon to bring the sparks back,” he replied as he started coming up with ideas in his head. Whatever he came up with, he feared that it still wouldn’t feel good for Marisol.

He wasn’t going to lie. He was worried about his girlfriend’s behavior recently.

* * *

Even after they finished making the sugar scrubs and ate some pizza, Marisol still felt like shit.

“What am I going to do without you and Eli?” She asked Katie in worry as they watched a movie on the couch while using foot baths. She was really going to have only Jake again at the end of the month. She was not looking forward to it.

“I don’t know, but I think you’re going to actually do fine this time. Eli is really into you, Mare,” her friend replied with a soft smile. 

“Mo was really into me too,” she grumbled as memories of their breakup flashed through her mind. She couldn’t help but be paranoid right now.

“Yeah, but Eli got his rich grandparents to allow him to throw you a birthday party at their super elite country club. He rented out a private cottage for you. And from what we’ve seen with his previous relationships with Clare, he’s not one to casually end a relationship with someone he claims to be in love with,” Katie pointed out.

“I know but I’m scared,” Marisol replied as she tried to not start crying again at the possibility about Eli leaving her. She was in love with him, that she knew now. He was a great guy with a big, warm heart and a passion for everything he cared about, especially her. She didn’t want the flame that was their relationship to go out.

“It’s okay to be scared,” Katie assured her, “I’m nervous about how this second attempt at a relationship between me and Jake is going to go but there’s nothing we can do but try because there’s love between us, and there’s love between you and Eli. I know it.”

“I hope so,” Marisol could only say in response.

* * *

Seeing goodbye to Fiona was rough, mostly because he had to pull a crying Imogen off of her.

“Come on, Immy. Fiona can’t miss her flight,” he told his friend gently.

“I love you, Fiona! I’ll miss you!” His best friend cried to his other best friend as he led her back to his car. 

“I love you too. Don’t you guys go off the rails at university without me, okay?” Fiona asked jokingly with tears in her eyes as she made her way inside the airport.

“Can’t guarantee you that, Fi,” Eli replied loudly enough for her to her before getting back inside his car. Imogen was now in the front passenger seat with him.

The ride back to Imogen’s place mostly consisted of him doing his best to comfort her while she cried. He understood her pain well, as he was not looking forward to parting from Marisol either. She was probably going to cry as badly as Imogen since she was pretty emotional herself sometimes. She was nearly a wreck on her own birthday.

“At least you guys aren’t broken up this time around,” he tried to console her.

“Yeah but what if she meets some new sexy Italian girl that’s hot and ready for her?” She asked with a sniffle.

“Remind her that she has a sexy Italian girlfriend back home that’s more than willing to have some spicy time with her on the phone or on Skype,” Eli suggested. 

“Ugh, I don’t know how we’re going to do this. I’m already falling apart and it’s only been thirty minutes!” Imogen exclaimed.

“Whatever it takes, you can make it through,” he assured her. He needed them to, because he honestly did not think anyone was more fit for either of them than each other. They may seem like an odd couple at first but they just....fit. 

Like him and Marisol.

* * *

Katie left her house before three p.m., and Marisol got dressed to visit Eli at The Dot before she went to work. On work days, she usually dressed casually in a summer and jeans with light makeup. Her ideal outfit was an emerald green tube top and black high waisted jeans with gold buttons.

But unfortunately, her jeans weren’t fitting. And she just bought them a month ago.

 _‘When will this shit end?’_ She thought to herself in annoyance as she gave up on putting them on. She was tired of not being able to wear her cutest outfits. While searching for a different pair of jeans for her to wear, she decided to look at herself in her full body mirror.

No matter Katie said, her body was starting to look gross. However, her ass was looking bigger and rounder than usual and perhaps that was a good thing. She caught Eli staring more than a few times and he was grabbing it more often during sex. He always liked her ass but it seemed like he was enjoying it more ever now.

She would count her boobs seemingly getting bigger too as a plus if they didn’t hurt like hell. She no longer allowed her boyfriend to touch or suck on her breasts, and Eli was sulking at that. It was a devastating hit to their sex life and now she was starting to get a bit bored. Plus, how can they have amazing, mind blowing sex when she regularly feels like shit?

_‘It’s like I’m on my period, but worse.’_

* * *

When Marisol came into The Dot while he was break, he had a table ready for them with a large cookies and cream milkshake and a plate of chocolate marshmallow cookies.

“Babe,” he greeted as they shared a quick kiss on the lips before she sat down across from him.

“Hi,” she greeted with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. From her body language, he could tell she was upset about something. She seemed stressed.

“You okay?” He asked in concern.

“It’s nothing, why?” She asked back.

“I could see it in your eyes. What’s wrong?” He asked again while folding his arms on the table. She sighed before answering.

“Eli... I think I’m getting fat,” she answered with a frown. He raised his eyebrow at the answer.

“What? I don’t see it,” he replied while looking at her appearance for today. For some reason, even in a simple tube top and jeans, Marisol looked more beautiful than ever. It was like she was glowing.

“You don’t think I’m getting rounder?” She asked in disbelief.

“If you are, it’s clearly for the better because you are still very sexy,” he answered while flashing her his smirk. The only real things he had noticed about her appearance this past month were that her breasts and ass looked bigger than usual. The current tube top she was wearing looked tight and showed off her breasts. He wanted to pull it off but unfortunately, he wasn’t allowed to touch them. 

“You’re not lying to make me feel better?”

“Of course not, you look amazing,” he assured her while pulling out some straws and putting them in the milkshake glass. “Now you’re not going to let me drink this milkshake by myself are you?”

The way Marisol looked at the milkshake in hesitation truly confused him. He had noticed that she was watching what she was eating recently, but milkshakes were one of her favorite treats. He hoped she wasn’t developing an eating disorder.

He was relieved when she leaned forward and started sipping on the drink, albeit slowly. He immediately joined her and they shared a quiet peace while consuming the treat.

His worries about Marisol were increasing even further.

* * *

_Later that night_

On a normal night at Little Miss Steaks, Marisol would be smiling cheerfully as she took customer’s orders, chatted with K.C. and her other co-workers, and eating a plate of loaded nachos while on break. Depending on what day it was and whether or not it was a special night, the atmosphere in the restaurant was warm, friendly, and fun.

However tonight, she was in a terrible mood and most of it was because she was positive she was sick with something. She vomited up the milkshake and cookies she shared with Eli at The Dot earlier, and that certainly tanked the good vibe they were having. There was nothing she could do but leave at that point. She wasn’t even sure she even wanted to invite him over for sex tonight, because she was that embarrassed.

And it wasn’t just the nausea going through her, oh no, she was feeling pretty lightheaded now too. Her mind felt it was on a merry-go-round that would not stop spinning.

“Are you okay?” K.C. asked her in concern as she filled up a pitcher of southern style sweet tea for her customers. She felt heavier doing the action than normal.

“Yeah...I’m fine...,” she answered with a slow nod.

“You look like you're about to pass out and you’re sweating,” he observed.

“Just a little under the weather today, nothing more,” Marisol reasoned as she finished filling up her pitcher and made her way to her table, an old married couple with their small grand baby.

“Thank you sweetheart. You’re probably the most precious little waitress we ever had,” the old woman told her sweetly.

“Aw, it’s my pleasure ma’am,” she replied happily as she then took their orders, which were both ribeye steaks with seasoned corn, mashed potatoes, and asparagus.

As she started to leave, their grand baby started crying for whatever reason, and her vision started to blur. She felt the urge to start wobbling as she made her to the kitchen to give the chef the order. When she made her way back to K.C., that’s when her vision blackened for a moment and she couldn’t see anything. She stopped in her tracks as her head started whirling uncomfortably. She could feel her body starting to wobble....

The next thing she knew, she was being sat down at an empty table.

“Marisol, I’m going to get you some water,” she heard K.C. say, and after a minute or two, her vision came back.

K.C. and Juan were in front of her, both with very worried looks on their faces. Just as K.C. said, he had gotten her a small glass of water.

“I think you need to go home early today, Marisol,” their manager suggested.

“What? It’s only been two hours. I’m fine,” she argued.

“I don’t think so. Here, K.C., drive her home in her car okay?” He ordered her co-worker, who nodded in acceptance. 

She had zero strength to fight back or even argue as K.C. helped her get her things out of her locker and escorted her out of the restaurant. She could only wonder what was wrong with her these days.

* * *

“I don’t think you can come over Eli,” Marisol said to him sadly over the phone. He was talking to her in a random stall in The Dot bathroom.

“Why, what happened? Are you okay?” He asked.

“I feel sick so my boss sent me home,” she explained. 

“After two hours?”

“I think I almost fainted in the restaurant. I was stumbling around and it was like I was blind for a few seconds. I really didn’t want to go home but something bad might’ve happened if I did,” she lamented.

“Do you think you need to go to the doctor, Princess? Because combined with you spitting up our milkshake earlier, I think it might be possible you’re coming down with a fever or something,” he suggested in worry. Marisol looked sickly after she came back to their table as she had red, puffy eyes and her skin looked pale. And now she was telling him that she nearly fainted at work? 

“I think I’m just going to drink some herbal tea and sleep it off. I’ll probably feel better in the morning,” she replied.

“Are you sure?” 

“Yeah, baby. Don’t worry about it. Now I’m not going to hold you up from work so goodnight, I love you,” Marisol answered before quickly ending the call, leaving him with even more worries. He was confused as hell now too.

What the hell was going on with Mare?

* * *

 _Friday_

The next morning, she woke up nauseous and with the urge to throw up all over her bed. Not the way she wanted to start off her Friday. She was supposed to go on a breakfast date with Eli at a nice restaurant but considering what happened at The Dot yesterday, it probably wasn’t a good idea.

She groggily texted Eli that she wouldn’t be able to come because she felt like hell right now. After a few minutes, he texted back.

 **“Do you think you should go to the hospital?”** He texted back.

 **“No,”** she replied, not wanting to entertain the idea. She felt bad for even telling Eli this because her boyfriend was a worrier.

 **“If you say so. You want me to bring you anything?”** He asked.

 **“I don’t know but could you come over here and cuddle with me?”** She requested.

 **“You got it,”** he complied and she felt tears well up in her eyes for some reason. Eli was really so sweet. **“Thank you so much I love you,”** she texted back.

After that, she decided to take a hot bath so she could at least try to feel better.

* * *

Eli got dressed and left his house to drive over to Marisol’s, but not without getting some things first. From what she was telling him and what he was seeing, his girlfriend was coming down with a sickness. So she was going to need all the pampering she could get.

The first place he hit was a flower shop that was a block away from The Dot. In the store, he picked out a fresh bouquet of daisies. His girlfriend appreciated flowers of any kind really, but she had a special affinity for daisies. He bought her a brown teddy bear along with the flowers, despite her having quite a few in her bedroom already. _‘There would probably never be enough stuffed animals for her,’_ he thought to himself in amusement. He just hoped it wouldn’t have a super cutesy name like Rainbow, Sunshine, or Peaches.

Next, he drove over to a seafood place to get her some comfort food, which would be crab fries, mussels, scallops, and clams. Since her mother was home, he would get her some too. He didn’t know much of what Martina liked to eat, but from the dinner they had a couple weeks ago, he knew she had an affinity for crab like her daughter. So he got her a crab cake platter with mash potatoes and mussels.

When he finally got to Marisol’s house, he walked up to her front door and knocked, waiting for her to answer it.

Instead it was Martina, who looked at him in surprise. “Eli! Hello!” She greeted him. “Food and flowers for me?” She joked.

“The flowers? No. But some of this food? Yes,” he answered with a smile.

“Well, if you brought me food I guess there’s no choice but to let you in,” she reasoned playfully while stepping inside to let him in. “Mari! Your boyfriend’s here!” She then called as he put the flowers, bear, and food on the coffee table. He could hear a shuffling of feet upstairs.

Marisol came downstairs in a hair bonnet, a grey tank top with a pink heart on it, and black shorts. Her eyes were heavy and tired but when she saw him, her face temporarily brightened. “Emo Bear,” she greeted with a croaked, but excited voice while running to hug him. He accepted her with open arms and they shared a brief kiss.

“You don’t feel too good right now so what better way to help you get better than some of your favorite seafood?” He asked her cheerfully while gesturing to the food. 

“Well it definitely smells good,” she replied while looking at one of the platters in hunger. She then turned her attention to the flower and stuffed bear. “You got me daisies and a stuffed animal?”

“They’re your favorite,” he answered with a shrug, “And you can probably never have enough stuffed animals.”

“You would be right,” she agreed as she picked the flowers up and smelled them, sighing in content. “I feel better already!” 

The next hour was spent eating lunch with Marisol and her mother in their dining room. Marisol was still in a weakened state but she was mowing down her food eagerly and lightly chatting with them so that was good. 

“These crab fries are amazing,” she noted, “I don’t think I can finish them all.”

“You don’t have to, babe, this is a lot of food,” he pointed out as he looked at his own platter of clams and fries. The place he went to had dumped a load of seasoned crab meat on the fries, and that alone would make anyone full.

“Mmm, this is going to be my dinner later,” she replied excitedly.

“If you don’t throw it all up later,” her mother dryly said. His eyes widened at the statement.

“Mama!” Marisol exclaimed, aghast.

“It’s true,” her mother defended with a shrug as she ate another piece of her jumbo crab cake, “I’m really worried about how nauseous you’re getting baby.”

“Is it every day?” He asked his girlfriend.

“Can we talk about something else, please?” She begged.

He decided to drop it, but her mother had a glint in her eye that said she knew something they didn’t.

* * *

After the lunch, they all decided to watch a movie together. It was a romantic comedy starring Degrassi alumni Manny Santos. She had admired her former Power Squad captain dearly during her freshman year, and had gotten a makeover to dress just like her. It was awful, and she didn’t like talking about it these days.

For some reason, she had difficulties staying awake the whole time. Maybe it was from the food or the sickness, she didn’t know. While cuddling with Eli, she found herself dozing off quite a few times on his chest. He had to shake her awake repeatedly.

When it was time for him to leave, Marisol watched her boyfriend walk out of the house and drive off in his car with great sadness. She really wanted to leave with him but she really didn’t feel good right now. She went back inside her house, to find her mother standing there with her arms folded and a look that made her uncomfortable. It was the look a doctor usually had for their patients.

“Mari,” her mother began to say, “Have you been sexually active with that boy?” 

“H-h-HUH? Mama?” Marisol stuttered out in shock. 

“Well have you?” her mother asked again.

“I don’t want to discuss my sex life with you!” She argued.

“Answer me please,” her mother demanded in a firm tone of voice that scared her. She bit her lip before answering.

“Yes,” she answered nervously, feeling like she was being on trial. She had been sexually active since she was fourteen, but only now was she being confronted by a parent for it even though her mother most suspected her and Mo were having sex at the minimum because she reminded her to get birth control before the spring break trip.

“Since when?” 

“May.”

“Have you been using condoms?”

“At first, but after we got tested, I’ve just been relying on birth control and Plan B.”

“Marisol, neither of those methods are one hundred percent effective, you should know this,” her mother replied in an unusually sharp tone, “I’m not going to beat around the bush with you. You’re often getting sick and throwing up, you’re getting round in the face, your hips are getting wider, you complain about your breasts being tender, and you spend half of your time when you’re not working or with your boyfriend taking long naps. In my near thirty years of working in the maternity ward, I know _exactly_ what that means.”

The implications of those words hit her like a truck, and Marisol felt her mouth go dry at the thought. “No, no, Mama. I wouldn’t be. I’m just gaining weight, that’s all,” she argued as she didn’t even want to contemplate the thought. She was only nineteen. Eli was only going to be twenty in three months, and he just got an offer to work as a director on the fall play at NYU.

“When was the last time you had your period?” Her mother questioned her, and she was ready to fire back a quick response but then a horrifying realization came to her.

“May...,” she answered slowly as fear seeped into her. Around that time, her and Eli were in the beginning stages of their relationship and were basically fucking like rabbits uncontrollably while their parents were still away. When they got tested, they later had sex at Eli’s house that evening while his parents were out at a club for middle aged adults. “There was one night where we just did it, and I used the morning after pill the day after, but I got sick off a breakfast sandwich and...oh god I think I threw the pill up...,” she confessed.

Her mother pressed her lips together in a thin line, and for the first time in a long time, Marisol wanted to cry.

“I’m taking you to get a pregnancy test first thing tomorrow,” her mother said, “And no matter the result of that, I’m taking you to the hospital to get tested. Mari, you are most likely pregnant.”

Once again that day, Marisol felt lightheaded.

* * *

 _‘Well while what we did today was a step in the right direction, nothing spicy happened,’_ Eli thought to himself in disappointment as he scrolled through the channels on his TV. Even disregarding the fact that her mother was home, even if she wasn’t, Marisol clearly wasn’t in the mood to have sex with her sudden sickness and tiredness. She was barely able to stay awake while they were watching that Manny Santos movie.

He missed the amazing sex they were regularly having, he missed Marisol’s bubbliness, and he missed the fun atmosphere they had while together. He didn’t know what was going on with his girlfriend, but he wanted her to go better because it was like she was a shell of her former self. Not a state of mind someone should go into their second year of university with.

 _‘What if it’s something serious?’_ He asked himself, and he quickly brushed that thought away. The last thing he needed to do was put himself in a state of paranoia over something that could be minor.

Marisol probably had a little flu or something. That was all.

* * *

 _Saturday_

It was shaping up to be an average Saturday morning when Clare called him to ask for a talk with her at The Dot to talk. He was confused with what her intentions were but he agreed to come anyway.

Wearing a t-shirt and shorts, he sat at a table at The Dot waiting for her to come by. It didn’t take her long to come.

She was wearing a light blue halter dress and sandals. “Hello, Eli,” she greeted politely while sitting across from him.

“Clare, how are you?” He asked, wondering what the purpose of this meeting was. They were both in strong relationships with other people now, and the romantic love between them was long gone. However, there were the memories that made him feel melancholy these days.

“I’m good. I just wanted to talk to you before you went off back to NYU,” she answered. He silently waited for her to say more.

“I’m sorry again for ending our relationship the way I did. I should have never broken up with you through voicemail,” she apologized.

“You shouldn’t have,” he agreed, “But no harm done.”

“Are you sure?”

“Well after you dumped me in person, I pretty much did nothing but cry and eat ramen noodles in my dorm for the next three weeks, and I nearly failed my midterms because of it, but it’s all good now. I’m very happy with Marisol now,” he assured her.

“I can see,” she replied, “I would have never expected her to be someone you would fall in love with, especially since you hated her at Degrassi.”

“Life is often unexpected Clare, you probably know that by now,” he pointed out.

“I do.”

* * *

This morning, her mother woke her out of her sleep and told her to get dressed. Just like her mother warned her last night, the first thing they were going to do today was get her a pregnancy test.

She couldn’t _believe_ this shit was happening to her.

“If it’s not pregnancy, then it’s something more serious than that and for that, I hope it’s pregnancy,” her mother said as she drove. Marisol didn’t even feel like an adult in the moment. She still felt like a teenager who was being scolded by her for getting detention in high school.

“I hope it’s a false alarm,” she replied flatly.

“With the amount of symptoms you’ve been showing since July? Unlikely. I’m not just saying this as a mother, but as a nurse. Mari, you need to be prepared for the test results to be positive,” her mother warned her, and she had nothing to say to that.

They went to the nearest pharmacy, and Marisol had never felt more uncomfortable in the store since the first time she bought a condom. There weren’t many people in the store, so she didn’t have to feel like a thousand eyes were staring her down in judgment so there was that at least. She numbly followed her mother around like a lost child, and right now she was feeling pretty lost.

“I think this one would be the best for you, Mari,” her mother told her while picking up a pregnant test that revealed the results with a simple “pregnant” or “not pregnant” answer. The only thing she could was nod. Before they went to pay for it, her mother bought her a water bottle as well for her to drink. She tried to look too much at their cashier, who looked at her and the pregnancy test in casual interest.

The car ride back home was awkward. For most of it, they didn’t speak a word to each other. Marisol was too busy wallowing in self-loathing and shame. It was only when they got back in the house, did she finally say something.

“You must be really be disappointed in me,” she said sadly. She then waited for her mother to condemn her. Her mother hesitated to answer for a couple seconds and then she did with a sigh.

“I don’t want my nineteen year old daughter to be pregnant, especially after I spent the last seven years educating her about the ways she could have prevented it, but accidents will happen, and there’s no use in getting mad over it. We just need to know these results first,” her mother replied gently.

Marisol felt a little less terrible at her words.

* * *

“I thought I had it all figured out. You were supposed to take me to prom, I was supposed to go to Columbia, and we were supposed to make a living together in New York but literally none of that is happening. I feel...lost,” Clare confessed to him. “How did you do it? How did you cope with your plans not working out the way they were supposed to?”

“I didn’t cope well at all at first,” Eli admitted, “After I stopped crying, I got bitter. The sight of you and K.C. deeply disgusted me every time you guys came into The Dot together, and I could barely hold it in. It was only after I started dating Marisol, that I decided that were better things to direct my energy towards.”

“So she gave you a purpose,” she said. He smiled at that.

“I guess you can say that. A couple of months ago, I wasn’t looking forward to going back to NYU alone and without the love of my life. I thought life without you, Clare, was going to be a miserable existence. But now, I’m going back happy now that I’ve found someone new, someone different, who brings me joy,” he proclaimed.

His heart was still heavy at the thought of leaving Marisol soon.

* * *

The wait for the results of the pregnancy test felt like it was taking centuries and she was close to snapping.

As Marisol sat on the edge of the bathtub with her mother, who had a flat expression on her face, a million different moods were going through her with each passing second. The level of anxiety she was feeling right now was overwhelming. It was over nine thousand as one of those Dragon Ball Z characters would say.

She couldn’t believe that this was actually happening to her. All the times she had been careful with taking her birth control and using condoms with her previous boyfriends and hookups, one day of fucking up led to this moment right now.

The timer finally went off, and Marisol slowly rose from her seat and walked to the sink to pick her test up, shaking all of the way. She was too scared to look at her mother.

She picked up the test result, and when she saw the words on the stick, her stomach dropped.

It read “pregnant”.

* * *

“So you seem to have your life together now...,” Clare assumed.

“I do,” Eli confirmed. “Or at least I think I do. There’s probably some kinks, I need to work through but for the most part I’m good.”

Clare chuckled softly at that. “It wasn’t too long ago that our positions were switched.”

“Well not too long I was Eli The Maniac who crashed hearses into walls, wrote plays about his exes, and burned scripts on stage. There was a point during that period where I contemplated ending it all,” he confessed, and it was an uncomfortable feeling now in hindsight. Therapy had done a lot to help him realize that he had a sickness he wasn’t dealing with properly.

“You weren’t a maniac, Eli, you were sick and I couldn’t help you. For that I’m sorry,” she replied sorrowfully.

“It’s not your fault. You did your best. You always do your best to help people, it’s probably your most wonderful quality,” he complimented her. Clare was a soft, kind soul with a big heart. It was no wonder that he was in love with her for so long.

“Do you think any of this was supposed to happen when you said our romance was a fairytale? Us broken up and in different relationships?” She asked him. 

“Maybe, maybe not. I thought we were soulmates, bound together by fate but it seems we ultimately weren’t,” he answered with a light shrug. Him and Clare no longer had an epic fairytale romance, though he figured he had that with Mare now. She certainly _acted_ like a princess sometimes.

The universe sometimes had a funny way of going about things, especially when it came to him. He wondered what obstacle it was going to throw at him next.

* * *

“Well, what does it say?” She heard her mother ask, and despite feeling like she was about to faint, Marisol simply showed her the results without looking at her. She couldn’t look her mother in the eye at this moment. Ten seconds of complete silence passed between them.

It was when her mother sighed, that Marisol started breaking down in the bathroom. Gripping the sides of the counter, she cried as she felt like the biggest idiot in the world. She was pregnant, actually fucking pregnant. A tiny being was currently growing inside of her because one bad breakfast sandwich caused her to throw up some Plan B three months ago. 

Her mother just sat there silently and allowed her to cry for a few minutes as feelings of anger, disgust, shame, confusion, sadness, worry, and worst of all _FEAR_ ran through her like a truck. It was as if time itself stopped to let her process this, but she didn’t know if she would be able to.

“Mari...,” her mother began in a gentle, but firm tone, “You are nineteen years old and currently around three months pregnant. You’re in university, your boyfriend is in university, the both of you have your whole lives ahead of you, but this could change everything. What are you going to do?”

The question was a difficult one, and one she never wanted to hear from her mother. Knowing her mother’s line of practice, she had probably asked this question or something similar to this to thousands of other girls over the years, but for her to now be one of them was one of the most uncomfortable moments in her life. Her mother must have been *so* disappointed in her right now.

“I don’t know Mama...,” Marisol answered in a scratchy voice.

“There are three options, and all of them are going to have an impact on your life.”

“I know....”

“Well, you have to figure out soon which one is the best.”

Marisol could only nod as her face was hot and wet with tears.

* * *

“Well despite everything that happened between us, Eli, I’m glad we met. I’m pretty sure that we were meant to be friends at least,” Clare reasoned.

“Yeah definitely. I still care about you, you know,” he admitted. Clare was temporarily his light after Julia, she motivated him to change himself for the better though he had to do most of that while they were broken up. He would never minimize the impact she had on his life. “If you ever need somewhere to stay in New York, my place is always free.”

“Am I actually allowed to do that, or will Marisol kill you?” She questioned with a look.

“No, I don’t think so. Plus why would she, she loves my sexy face too much,” he joked as Clare playfully rolled her eyes in response.

“You’re always going to be smug, aren’t you?”

_“Absolutely!”_

* * *

Marisol immediately got out of the house and went for a drive alone. She was still crying and she didn’t know whether it was more from anxiety or fear at this point.

She didn’t know where she was going, only that she needed to be away from everyone to gather her thoughts. She silenced her phone so no one would be able to contact her, especially Eli. She didn’t even want to think of how he was going to react to her being pregnant. Considering that he was literally going back to university in two weeks with a new internship, he would most likely be furious at the revelation. He would hate her. He would call her an idiot for accidentally throwing up the pill.

She was scared, so very scared.

She thought of every moment of them having sex, and how one night of unprotected sex led to this. One night and an ejected morning after pill led to a baby growing inside of her.

She wanted to scream, but what would that do? But she needed to let her frustrations out.

Somehow she ended up at the Ravine, where a few high school students were laughing and fooling around at a campfire. She was just going to sit in her and pretend they weren’t there. For awhile, she just sobbed while laying her head and arms on her steering wheel. This was the most unfortunate situation.

What was she going to do? She didn’t even know yet.

She could book an appointment to a health clinic and get an abortion without even telling Eli, therefore he would never have to know and he would never have to be disappointed in her. It was her body after all, and the only thing he contributed was putting the seed in her. Her family wouldn’t be opposed to getting an abortion, especially her mother.

She could tell Eli, and still get the abortion. Considering that her boyfriend was vocally pro-choice, he would support that decision, especially since they were both still very young. Neither of them have hit their twenties yet and spending their twenties raising a child would be a struggle with college hanging over their heads.

She could remain pregnant, and just simply give the baby away to a loving family when it was born. A nice, stable family with a nice job and steady income coming in would be a perfect fit for an infant. But there were still dangers with pregnancy and childbirth, and she very well get could attached to the little bean inside of her....which led to the fourth option.

She could keep it, and actually raise a baby. She would be someone’s mother and Eli would be their father. For the next eighteen years she would be responsible for taking care of a small human, and even after they were big and grown, they would be eternally bonded with her. Did she want that? She thinks back on the mothers she knew at Degrassi: Mia Jones and Jenna Middleton. Mia would show up to Power Squad practices with baggy eyes and a tired look on her face, and KC would talk about how dead inside Jenna looked while caring for Tyson. Parenthood looked to be a nightmare.

But....her parents had done a great job with raising her and Devon, even in different households, and neither of them had snapped yet. There were ups and downs throughout her life but she loved her parents and they clearly loved her.

However that didn’t mean her and Eli were going to be as successful....but they could try. It would be a struggle, but if they could survive Degrassi, they could survive anything, right? 

She didn’t know long she spent at the Ravine pondering her decision. She only knew that the sun was setting by the time she left, and she knew what she wanted to do. She only needed to talk to Eli, and while her chest was tightening in dread at the thought, she knew their talk needed to happen quickly.

“Meet me at The Dot tomorrow, please. We need to talk,” were the words she texted her boyfriend.

* * *

He felt unusually free after his talk with Clare. After their random deep conversation, they went back to chatting like old friends, and he was finally sure that they were still going to be good friends. When their time together was over they went their separate ways. He felt so good, he immediately reached into his phone to call Marisol.

Except she didn’t answer any of his calls, and over the next few hours, he kept trying to contact her. Despite him trying to not think much of it, he got concerned anyway and started thinking of all these awful scenarios to explain why she wasn’t answering her phone. She was mad at him, she was in the hospital, she was stuck in a ditch somewhere, she had been kidnapped, or she had been murdered by a serial killer. Each scenario increased in severity and he had to turn on some music in the house to calm himself. If Marisol was simply ignoring his calls, she was about to be in trouble.

Around six, when he was pacing around his house and about to enter a deep panic, he finally got a text message from Marisol.

“Meet me at The Dot tomorrow, please. We need to talk,” were the words in the message. 

“We need to talk” was one of the most scary phrases a person in a relationship could hear, and the words tended to signal a breakup was on the horizon. 

The anxiety he was feeling right now was almost paralyzing.

* * *

 _Sunday_

Today could go either way, and it all depended on Eli’s reaction.

Marisol would have loved to say she was prepared for any outcome as she knew what her decision was going to be, but she wasn’t. She was scared.

She was scared of Eli being mad at her and blaming her for possibly damaging their future.

She was scared of Eli suspecting her of trying to trap him and that she never took the pill at all even though she did.

She was scared of how his family was going to react. His parents were free-spirits but would that change with the news of her pregnancy? Would his mom’s parents accuse her of being a greedy black gold digger who only got pregnant for the money?

As she got dressed in the mirror, Marisol tried not to cry in fear of what was to come.

* * *

Eli was only waiting for five minutes at a table in the back of the The Dot before Marisol came in with a tense look on her face. He immediately grew anxious at that. What was the purpose of this meeting? To break up with him?

“Hey Eli,” she greeted calmly as she sat across from him. 

“Hey,” he greeted back while his chest tightened in dread of what she was going to say.

“You’re probably wondering why I’m here right now while you’re on break, and I want to let you know that it’s not what you think,” she said, but her tone still had him on edge. He didn’t relax his shoulders.

“Then what is it?” He asked in concern. He watched as Marisol took a deep sigh. It was like she was afraid to answer. Whatever it was, it was going to be terrible.

“Remember when we had sex right after our STI results came back?” She questioned him, and he thought back to that day. It was on his couch at his house. His parents were out at a club at the time, and he and Marisol decided to “celebrate”.

“Yeah....,” he answered slowly, not liking the implications of her question.

“I told you I was going to take the morning after pill after we were done, and I did,” she said before biting her lip in nervousness, “The problem was that I got sick from some breakfast sandwich I had the day after and threw it up before the effects could take place”.

His brain completely shut down at her next words.

“Eli, I’m pregnant,” she bluntly confessed.

It was just three words.

Three words that made his world spin, and his body go numb in shock. A million emotions was running through him at once, and it felt like forever before he gathered enough energy to say anything.

“What?” He asked in a small voice.

“And I’m keeping it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You don’t really love your comfort characters unless you making them go through some shit, and I’m making Eli go through some shit by putting him in another pregnancy plot just like he did in canon 😭 .


	14. I Do Love You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter before the epilogue is here *sniffles*
> 
> I want to clarify that I’m strongly pro-choice and I actually think that Marisol would choose to get an abortion under most circumstances. However she’s not getting one in this fic because it simply doesn’t feel right and that’s enough justification for me.
> 
> Now on to the fun stuff, which is poor Eli reacting to the news!
> 
> Song is I Do Love You by GQ.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s a sex scene that starts as soon as you see “Marisol licked her lips...” and stops when you get to the next scene.

Marisol was pregnant. His girlfriend of almost three months was pregnant. The queen bee of Degrassi was pregnant by him. He impregnated someone. She wasn’t getting an abortion or adopting, she was going to actually keep it. He was going to be a father. She was having his baby. They conceived a baby. They were going to be someone’s parents.

Their three month anniversary was in six days.

Eli’s brain was absolutely fried right now and he didn’t know how to react. What would be the proper reaction to this? Was there a right reaction to your girlfriend saying she got knocked up from throwing up Plan B?  _ And that she was actually keeping it despite the both of you still being in university? _

“You’re serious right now?” He asked, wondering if this was a dream and when was he going to wake up.

“Yes, Eli. I’m not getting an abortion. I’m having this baby and keeping it,” she affirmed. 

“Mare, we’re both in university.”

“I know.”

“Neither of us are even twenty yet.”

“I know.”

“We’re about to be separated by thousands of miles.”

_ “I know.” _

“Then why do I get the feeling you’re not really thinking about this?” He demanded. “Do you realize how much our lives are going to change if you have this baby? Babies are not toys, Mare, they’re tiny beings that take a  _ lot _ of responsibility to raise and that’s not even getting into how expensive-”

“Eli, I’m not a fucking idiot,” she snapped, cutting him off. “I know how difficult babies are, but I don’t want to get rid of it. I just can’t!”

“That’s nice, but are you prepared to be a parent?”

“Who’s ever prepared to be a parent? No one is really,” she countered.

“Yeah, and sometimes that can lead to a hard life for the kid, especially if both parents are nineteen year old university sophomores with meager restaurant jobs!” He argued, and he was firmly aware that people were starting to stare at them now.

Marisol pursed her lips. “Look Eli, I’m not aborting. I’m not adopting. Neither of them feel right in my heart so I’m going to keep the baby,” her brown eyes then darkened, “You can either be a part of his or her life or not. But best believe I’m demanding child support from you either way,” she warned.

She clearly was giving him an ultimatum right now, and he was aware that this conversation could very well be the end of their relationship depending on his decision. So he knew at least what he had to say next. He let out a deep sigh.

“Mare,” he began as gently as he could, “If you want to keep this baby, then I’ll support you because I love you. Even if I didn’t, I have zero desire to be a deadbeat dad. But allow me to be worried about how this is going to affect us. We’re barely adults and now we’re going to be someone’s mom and dad.”

“It sounds scary, and I  _ am _ scared but please don’t pressure me into doing something I don’t want to do. Not keeping it doesn’t feel right,” she replied in a small, anxious voice and he softened considerably at how frightened she truly looked right now. As much as part of him wanted to scream and shout at her about all of this, he couldn’t. She had been acting very vulnerable recently and now that he knew why, he had a feeling it was about to get worse.

“Okay, you want to have this baby. I want to be by your side but what are we going to do?” He asked her while reaching out and taking her hand gently in his.

“I don’t know. I’m still trying to process that this is even happening,” she admitted fearfully. He rubbed his thumb on her hand in circles.

“Well we don’t have long to figure this out as I’m leaving soon, Mare. How do you suppose we go about this? Having a long distance relationship is one thing, but with a baby in the mix? This is about to complicate everything,” he pointed out. The more this was sinking into him, the more he was able to gather genuine thoughts on what this meant for the future. He didn’t like the idea of possibly dropping out of NYU and delaying his dreams to move back to Toronto for the baby, but he also didn’t like the idea of being separated from his girlfriend and unborn baby for months at a time. It didn’t feel right at all.

“I thought about it, and I think I should move in with you at your new apartment when you go back,” she said, and the suggestion had him shocked.

“You want us to move in together?” He asked while his mind whirled at the thought. 

“I could take online classes, and that way you’re not in a position to leave NYU. You can accompany me to all of my appointments,” she said.

“Mare, we’ve only been together for a couple of months. Moving in together is a giant step we’re probably not prepared for. This is all moving too fast,” he argued.

“Well having a baby together is a giant step that neither of us are really prepared for either, but it’s happening. It’s too late to worry about how fast things are going,” she replied, “The only thing we can do now is make the best decision for the baby and I think us moving in together is the best decision for him or her. We’re about to be a family and I want us all to be united under one roof,” she insisted.

“I need to go outside for a bit. I need to really think about this,” he declared as he got up quickly, and it was like the reality of the situation was finally hitting him. He felt like he was about to stumble and fall. Spinner wouldn’t like that.

“Took as long as you want but my suggestion still stands,” Marisol replied firmly while folding her arms. He then left her presence to go outside.

As the summer sun hit him, he struggled internally with what was going on.

* * *

Well that wasn’t as horrible as she feared, but she wouldn’t exactly call it good either.

Marisol awkwardly sat at their table alone while Eli was thinking about whatever outside. He was terrified, but he wasn’t really angry that she was pregnant and keeping the baby. He was nervous but he would support her. That was good. She wouldn’t have to worry about that at least.

But she needed for him to let her move in with him at his NYC apartment. If there was one thing that needed to happen in order for this situation to work, it was that. She did not want to go through the next six months alone.

Choosing parenthood over abortion and adoption was a path that she herself was shocked she was taking but her gut instinct told her to do it. For some reason, she actually wanted to keep this baby even though she was probably bringing nothing but stress to her and Eli by doing so. Something told her however that she wouldn’t regret this decision.

If Eli didn’t love her, and they weren’t together at all, she probably would be at a clinic right now getting an abortion but he did love her and he was going to try to make it work. So that was the biggest factor in her decision.

The longer Eli was outside, the more thoughts of how everyone else was going to react worried her. Her mother already made it clear that this situation wasn’t what she wanted for her daughter, but that there was nothing more she could do but support her. Her father and brother would probably freak out however, especially her father. He had such high expectations of her.

Oh  _ God _ , how was she going to tell her father?

* * *

His time spent outside was basically pacing back and forth as he tried to clear his head before making his decision on what Marisol suggested. It was hard, considering that his mind was still trying to register that she was pregnant. As smart as he was, he somehow never saw this coming even though the signs have been there since July when she first started being prone to emotional outbursts.

Eli recalled one moment during sex at the beginning of their relationship, where he said as a joke that she felt so good that he was tempted to put a baby in her sometimes. Well, the joke was apparently on him because he actually did.

The thought of Marisol moving in with him already after almost three months was a wild one, and under normal circumstances, the idea would be swiftly rejected. But this was not a normal circumstance, and Marisol was right about them no longer being in a position to worry about things moving too fast when a baby was coming. Now they had to start thinking like parents.

The apartment he rented out in NYC was in Manhattan and it had two bedrooms and one bathroom. It was small and looked tight but it was the nicest looking one he could find at an affordable price. His grandparents were helping him out with the money at some level, but they weren’t going to pay the full price for him. He was planning to get a job somewhere when he came back to NYC, but now it was essential. He had a family to support now, and it was looking like moving in his pregnant girlfriend was the best decision. One bedroom could be theirs and the other would be the baby’s room. 

He almost felt dizzy planning this out. Three months ago, he swore he hated Marisol Lewis and would have been happy with never interacting with her after graduation. Three months later, she was pregnant by him and they were going to live as a family unit in New York. The luckiest betters in Las Vegas couldn’t have predicted this.

Of course, he was in love with her so that kinda lessened the blow.

He finally came back inside the restaurant where Marisol was looking at him expectantly. He sat back down and took a deep breath before he began to speak.

“You can come live with me in New York,” he accepted her proposal, “And we can start preparing for that now.”

At least some of the fear in her eyes dissipated at his statement, and he supposed that was good. Fear would be bad for the baby. “I wasn’t expecting this at all, but I’m willing to do what’s best for our child and for you. I don’t want you to go through all of this alone. I want to be there for you as the baby grows, as it starts kicking, as we find out its gender together, as you start getting bigger but more beautiful, and when you’re in labor, I want to be there for you the whole time. I want to take you to parenting classes and build the baby’s crib together. I want to pick our baby’s name together. Because I want you and I want our baby,” he declared.

He watched as his girlfriend’s eyes began to water. “Thank you, Eli,” she replied in deep gratitude. She then blinked and tears fell down her face.

“Didn’t I tell you before that a beauty like you doesn’t deserve to cry?” He scolded her half-heartedly.

“These are tears of joy, Eli,” she said defensively.

“What’s bringing you so much joy to the point it’s making you cry?”

“That you’re not abandoning me and our baby.”

* * *

_ Later _

Her father took the news as well as she thought.

Which wasn’t at all.

“You’re knocked up from a boy you haven’t even been dating for a year? How could you?” Her father asked her angrily from his seat on the other side of the room. When she invited her father over the house to talk, she wanted him as far away from her as possible when she told him the news. It turned out to be a very good idea.

“I didn’t choose to, I threw up the morning after pill by accident,” Marisol defended herself, and she was already tired of telling this tale to everyone. It was embarrassing to reveal and she felt dumber after each time. She didn’t know how long it would be before she ever ate another breakfast sandwich again.

“Yet you choose to have sex without a condom anyway when your mother and I have educated you about safe sex for years,” her father replied with a glare. “You have disappointed me and your mother, Marisol.”

“I’m sorry,” she automatically apologized, feeling more like a child than someone who was having one at that moment. She wondered how rich her father would be if she gave him a dollar for all the times she disappointed him. He’d probably be a millionaire at this point.

“Sorry isn’t going to make me feel better that you’re pregnant at nineteen years old. Where’s your boyfriend? What does he have to say for himself?” He demanded.

“He’s telling his parents right now,” she answered, and something told her Eli was having a much easier time with his parents. She was jealous.

“And I bet they’re overjoyed,” he sneered, “Though with the kind of reckless lifestyle his father encourages on his radio station, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are praising him for getting some girl pregnant. It’s the rocker’s life, isn’t it?”

“Daddy….,” Marisol warned, feeling uncomfortable at his words.

“What? It’s most likely how they’re seeing it. I can tell your little boyfriend was raised with loose parents with the way he used to dress in your old pictures of him, and he drove around in a  _ funeral car _ . What kind of parent allows that?”

Marisol was regretting every bad thing she told her father about Eli back when she was in high school. At the time it felt good because her father shared her judgmental attitude but now it was biting her in the ass.

“Eli’s parents aren’t supposed to be the focus of this conversation,” she reminded him stiffly.

“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s talk about Eli, your boyfriend who has shown a history of psychotic behavior,” her father fired back, “I remember seeing on the news about a teenager badly injuring himself by driving his car into a wall. I thought it was an accident until you told me he did it himself to keep his girlfriend from him. If I was that girl’s father I would have demanded him to be expelled from the school and then I would have made her file a restraining order.”

“Daddy….,” she repeated in an attempt to get him to stop. But he didn’t.

“Then you told me he burned a script on stage in front of everyone on the debut night of his play that was all about his little relationship. A little nut job like that needed to face harsher consequences for his actions,” he sneered again.

“He was doing these things because he was sick! He didn’t know what he was doing was wrong!” Marisol said defensively. 

“Yeah he was sick, alright. Sick in the damn head and you went and spread your legs for him two years later. I thought I raised you with more sense, Mari,” he snarled. “You want to have a baby with this crazy bastard?”

“He’s not crazy, he’s bipolar!”

“Like that’s even better! What’s he going to do when the baby cries too much? Grab its head and bash its brains out against a wall? Someone with that kind of mental instability does not need to be a parent,” he snarled.

Her mouth dropped in horror at his cruel words. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She couldn’t believe her father would be so ignorant about this when he met Eli and knew he was a good person. So where was this all coming from?

“How could you even say that?” She asked as tears sprung up in her eyes. “Eli would never even think to harm our baby because of his bipolar disorder. He’s not a monster and he loves me.”

“Loves you? He loves the sex you had no problem giving to him, but does that mean he’s going to stick around for your baby? Probably not, and I wouldn’t want him around you and your baby anyway. You should get an abortion,” he suggested to her coldly.

“Well I’m not getting an abortion. I'm keeping this baby and I'm moving in with Eli when he goes back to NYU," she declared and watched as her father bristled at that statement.

“Moving in with him? Are you crazy? What about UT?” He shouted.

“I can switch to online. Anything so Eli can be there with me during the next sixth months!” She argued, while he chuckled darkly in response.

“You foolish girl. You would give up your future for  _ him _ ? You barely even know him!”

“We may not have been together long but Daddy I love him and I’m making the best decision for myself and the baby!”

“The best decision would be getting the  _ abortion _ ,” he nearly growled out, “You don’t realize how naive you sound right now. You have no idea how hard it is living with someone until you do, and you  _ definitely  _ have no idea of what it’s like raising a child, Mari. I thought I raised a smart daughter.”

She tried not to cry. She didn’t want to, but she couldn’t hold in the tears any longer. “I am smart. I’m doing what’s best for me,” she defended herself weakly. “If you don’t want to support me, that’s fine. I don’t need it anyway.”

“Good, because you’re not getting any handouts from me. You want to play at having a family, go ahead. But I’m not raising your child for you,” he warned.

Marisol could only nod as she started to sniffle.

* * *

“Well?” Eli asked his parents after telling them the news. The whole time they didn’t cut in and say anything under his request, but now he nervously waited for them to speak.

Bullfrog shared a look with Cece, who looked completely lost at what to say. His father decided to say something first, clearing his throat before he did.

“Eli, I’m not going to lie, this is not what your mom and I wanted for you,” Bullfrog said with a frown, “Especially since we found ourselves in this exact same position almost twenty years ago. We wanted better for you. But...accidents happen and the best thing we can do now is support you. But this is a big responsibility you and Marisol will be taking on for the rest of your lives. Parenting isn’t like a job at The Dot, or something temporary like going to the movies for the day. It’s all day, all week, and all year for a lifetime. Once you become a parent, it’s forever, and there are no breaks no matter how much you beg for it. Anyone can make a baby but it takes real people to be someone’s actual mother and father,” Bullfrog warned him.

“I know, Dad. But Marisol wants to keep it, and I have no choice but to step up because I don’t want to abandon her and the baby. It’s  _ our _ responsibility, not just hers,” he replied firmly.

“Then I raised you right, son,” his father said with a soft smile.

“How is Marisol? I know she must be scared,” Cece asked him in concern.

“She is,” he confirmed, thinking of how she acted at the Dot. She was truly fearful of him reacting awfully to the news, and he felt a little hurt by that but he understood. 

“Well the next six months are going to be hard for her. She’ll be getting bigger, and more insecure about her looks. She’s going to be frustrated from the back pains and not being able to eat or wear whatever she wants anymore. Eventually, she’s barely going to leave her bed because she’s huge and always tired. Then there’s of course the labor, the worst pain in the world. You’ll have to take care of her the whole time, are you ready for that kind of task, Eli?” She asked again with a piercing look. Her tone was gentle as it almost always was, but there was a hint of steel to it. He shifted his eyes nervously before answering.

“Not really,” he answered honestly, “But it’s something I have to get used to for her.”

“You’re definitely going to have to get used to it if the two of you will be living together, and that’s a game changer on its own. Living together will make or break you and Marisol, and your dad and I are going to hope for the former because we can see it in you that you love this girl. But love doesn’t always triumph over bills and children,” she replied.

“I’ll fight to make sure it does,” he vowed. His mother smiled tightly at that, as if she was still hesitant to believe that.

“You love so hard, and that’s one of your best virtues, baby boy. And you already love your unborn child so much since it’s not even a debate for you being in its life. I just hope that this works out for you and Marisol because being a family isn’t always going to be sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes, it’s rough,” she said and his father silently agreed with a nod.

“I know, and I know that I wasn’t an easy child to raise with all my issues. But if Marisol wants this life, then I want this life because I love her and our unborn baby, and I’m not walking out on them. We’re going to be a family, and that’s that,” he declared.

“We hope so, Eli. The only thing we can do as your parents right now is hope,” she replied.

He wouldn’t disappoint them.

* * *

She cried for an hour on the couch after her father left. She knew her father wasn’t going to take the news well but she still wasn’t expecting his words to be  _ THAT _ awful, and perhaps she was foolish for that.

Dominic Lewis always had high expectations for his children, because as the son of Jamaican immigrants, he was pressured himself by his parents to be the best. Her whole father’s side of the family were doctors, lawyers, engineers, business men and women, and other highly respected people in society. When her father met her mother, her grandmother pushed her into the medical field. It was expected of her and Devon to also go into one of these careers. Her father wasn’t initially pleased when Devon chose to go into basketball instead, as he considered sports to be a silly endeavor compared to “real careers”. It was only due to Devon being so talented at the sport that he was being scouted for professional play now that her father softened on basketball. He wasn’t so harsh on her own dreams because it involved making a business for herself down the line. She was serious about owning her own makeup line one day and was willing to work hard for it. She was planning to go into makeup school after university, which her father was eager to support.

However, with the tiny human growing inside of her, her plans were possibly getting delayed now and her father was  _ pissed _ . He had said the worst things about her and Eli, and she was probably disowned by him in all but name now. She had fucked up greatly in his eyes, and when her grandparents found out, they were probably going to never speak to her again.

Her father never whooped her as a kid because he didn’t need to. His verbal smackdowns hurt worse than any belt or switch could. Even at nineteen, she was currently sobbing because of his scathing remarks about her pregnancy. She was always going to be a child when it came to her father.

The doorbell rang, and Marisol quickly tried to calm herself down before getting up and answering. She grabbed a napkin off the table and wiped her eyes with it as she looked to see who it was. When she saw it was Eli, she opened the door immediately to let him in.

“Mare, what happened?” He asked in great concern as she closed the door behind them.

“My Dad is what happened,” she answered.

“He didn’t take the news well,” he assumed and she shook her head and laughed bitterly.

“That would be the understatement of the year. I’m not even going to tell you what he said because it was too horrible,” she replied as she went to sit back down. Eli joined her on the couch and wrapped his arm around her shoulders to comfort her.

“I’m sorry, Mare,” he expressed in sympathy.

“Maybe I’m being stupid in not getting an abortion. Maybe I should get it just so he would no longer hate me,” she suggested, more to herself than anything. She didn’t even have the baby yet but people were already making this difficult for her.

“No, don’t do something you don’t want to do because someone is pressuring you into doing it. This is your body, not his,” he strongly urged.

“It would be the easy way out,” she argued.

“But is that what you want, Mare? I’ll support whatever decision you make but not if it’s because you feel like you have to,” he replied.

“So you don’t think me getting an abortion would be more convenient for us?” She questioned him while looking deep into his eyes. While raising a baby was already going to be hard enough for an average university student, raising a baby while attending one of the most prestigious film schools in the world was going to be excruciatingly difficult for Eli.

“It probably would be but that’s not what you want, and I’m not going to push you into getting an abortion if it wouldn’t feel right for you,” he answered and she can see it in his eyes that he was honest.

“It wouldn’t feel right for me,” she agreed, “I don’t know why but it just wouldn’t. So I’m standing by my choice.”

“And I’m standing with you,” he assured her before kissing her forehead. When he pulled away, they shared a loving look.

Marisol licked her lips before leaning forward and kissing her boyfriend firmly on the lips. He strongly kissed her back and opened his mouth to give her more access. As their tongues danced together, desire lit up inside her for the first time in what felt like forever. Eli pushed her back gently on the couch while still kissing her. She left out a soft moan as he unbuttoned her blouse and then reached down inside her panties. He circled her clit with his thumb while pulling away from her lips to kiss on her tender neck.

After a bit, he stopped kissing her to pull her panties down from underneath her skirt. When he was done, he pushed her skirt up to her waist and started traveling down her body. Her stomach tightened in anticipation of what he was about to do. She let out another, more hardened moan when she felt his tongue enter inside her wet folds. “Fuck….,” she murmured while throwing back her head as he slowly explored her pussy. She shut her eyes in pleasure as he repeatedly flicked his tongue on her clit, bucking her hips at the action.

She came with a cry, and Eli licked her clean before lifting himself up and unbuckling his jeans. He pulled his pants and his boxers down. As he stroked himself in front of her, he stared intensely into her eyes. She just stared back as her mind was in a deep haze. 

He climbed back on top of her and positioned himself between her legs before slowly pushing inside of her, and she moaned once more.

“Elijah…”

* * *

A half and hour later, him and Marisol were cuddling on the couch watching TV. They were cuddling underneath one of Marisol’s fuzzy blankets, a purple one. The sex they had was probably other softest they ever had, but it was also the best they had in awhile. Marisol was back to looking like she was really enjoying it, and that was enough for him.

“Is it any wonder I’m pregnant with all this random sex we keep having?” She asked him in amusement.

“I guess not really, but it’s hard to look at you and  _ not  _ want to have sex,” Eli answered with a shrug.

“Really? You sound like a horndog,” she dryly replied.

“It’s true, you’re a fucking goddess. No matter how you look at the moment, you’re the most beautiful sight in the room,” he praised. “I can’t stop thinking of how I’m going to make love to you next. It’s uncontrollable.”

During that whole weekend they spent at the cottage, they spent a lot of their time having some pretty epic sex that he initiated for the most part. He couldn’t help it. Spending alone time with his beautiful girlfriend in a private cottage intensified his hormones, and by Monday, Marisol was walking around with a hoarse voice because of him.

“I would love to hear this again in a few months when I’m fat as a whale,” she remarked.

“Don’t worry, you will. In fact, I’m kinda glad now that I put a baby in you,” he admitted.

“Why?”

“Because you’re already sexy enough as it is, but now you’re going to be even sexier carrying  _ my _ child in you. You’re practically glowing right now.”

“....Tell me why I’m getting horny again right now.”

“Because you love the way I talk to you,” Eli replied, “....And you always want this dick I got. Admit it, Princess,” he added with a smirk.

“Make me,” she challenged with a mischievous glint in her eyes, and that was enough for me.

“Oh I will,” he growled before roughly slamming his lips onto hers.

* * *

_ A few days later  _

Marisol was already hating the restrictions caused by her being pregnant. She grumpily sipped on her strawberry milkshake while waiting for Katie to come by. She had to cut herbal tea out from her diet if she didn’t want to hurt her little bean. She also couldn’t eat sushi anymore either so bye bye romantic sushi dinners with her boyfriend. 

Every time she thought she knew everything about pregnancy, there was a new curve ball thrown at her. And there were six more months of this.  _ Ugh _ .

When Katie walked up to her with a pile of books in her arms, she was confused. “Babe, what are those?” She asked her BFF.

“Pregnancy books, since you’re going to need these now,” Katie answered firmly as she stacked them on the table before sitting across from her. 

“Couldn’t you wait until the baby shower?” Marisol asked again with a raised eyebrow as she wearily looked at the books. There were at least six and all were of various sizes. Knowing Katie, she was going to make sure she read all of them even though they were about to be on opposite ends of the United States. Ever since she told her best friend that she was pregnant, Katie had gone into mother mode and hadn't left it yet. A stranger out on the street would think _Katie_ was the one who was pregnant, not her.

“No, because some of these you’re going to need to read right now,” Katie answered again as she pulled out a thick purple book from the pile, “Such as _Eating For Two: What Foods Are and Aren’t Good_ _For Expecting Mothers_.” As her BFF held up the book for her, Marisol got to see the illustration for the cover, which was of a heavily pregnant Asian woman looking at a refrigerator filled with food.

“This should be a fun read,” she said sarcastically, not looking forward to reading it.

“Well get used to it because you have to think for two now,” her best friend replied before pulling a thin pink colored book with a pregnant woman posing in a formal green gown.  _ A Pregnant Woman’s Guide To Fashion  _ was the title of the book. “I think you’re going to really like this one,” Katie said confidently.

“I think you’re right,” Marisol replied with slight interest as she took the book from her friend’s hands and looked through the pages. Getting used to wearing maternity clothes instead of her usual wear was going to be difficult and frustrating, especially since she went on a shopping spree in July for new fall and winter outfits and now couldn’t wear any of them despite how cute they were. But maybe shopping for cute _maternity_ clothes instead wouldn’t be so bad. As she looked at pictures of women in pretty sweater dresses and leggings, she realized she could really  _ rock  _ some of these.

“Since Eli is going to be a father, he should read some of these too,” Katie said while folding her arms.

“Oh trust me, he’s probably buying his own bookshelf of pregnancy books right now,” she remarked. Even though he was still nervous about what was to come, Eli was excited to be a dad. He had given her his toy fox named Marcus, and said it was their baby’s now, and he had expressed that one of the first things he wanted to do after they moved in was build a crib for the baby. She had to admit that there was something sexy about Eli’s enthusiasm about being a dad.

“Good, I’m glad that he wants to be active in the baby’s life. I was worried that I would have to resort to drastic measures if he didn’t,” Katie replied.

“What were you going to do if he didn’t?” Marisol asked.

“Break every bone in his body until he did,” Katie answered with a shrug.

* * *

“I can’t fucking believe you’re going to be someone’s Daddy,” Adam said to him in disbelief as he passed Jake’s blunt to him. He was over the Torres brothers’ house to see Adam one last time before he left for Ryerson tomorrow.

“Me neither,” Eli replied as he took the blunt gingerly in his fingers, put it in his mouth, puffed, and then handed it to Dave next, who was battling Connor in a game of NBA 2K.

“How are you even calm about this?” His best friend asked.

“I’m not….I’m scared shitless right now…,” Eli answered slowly while watching his friends play. Jake passed him a bowl of popcorn and he took it like it was the world’s most sacred object.

“Did you at least try to pull out?” Dave asked him as he turned to look at him.

“Nah....she felt too good at the time…”

His friend shook his head. “That must be some pussy, bro,” he remarked.

“It is,” Eli confirmed while blinking rapidly. He didn’t know whether it was because of how wet and creamy she got during sex, or because of her soft, cute moans deeply penetrating his ears the whole time but he couldn’t do anything  _ but _ nut inside Marisol every time they fucked. It was like an addiction.

Well that was how they got themselves in this predicament in the first place.

“I don’t know whether I should pray to God to give me a girl like that or not,” Dave replied in wonder.

“I’m surprised I never got a girl pregnant,” Drew commented on the other side of the room on a different couch. When it was his turn to take the blunt, he puffed deeply then coughed.

“Yeah me neither, but Mom would have beaten your ass if you did so maybe it’s for the best,” Adam remarked.

“Yeah...yeah…,” Drew agreed, “It’s crazy though to think that if B and I actually got married in Vegas, we might’ve had our first kid at this point.”

“You seriously think Bianca would let you knock her up before she’s thirty?” Adam questioned with narrowed eyes. The other Torres brother pondered his words.

“....Probably not,” Drew answered before laughing. His brother soon joined him, and they then laughed together. 

“You think you’ll be able to handle a pregnant Marisol 24/7, Eli?” Jake asked him.

“Maybe,” Eli answered with a shrug, “If she tries to kill me during a mood swing, I’ll be most likely safe down at the school. I’ll probably be working on directing King Lear all night this semester.” 

Perhaps it was the weed muddying his brain, but right now he was able to accept the realization that he would be living with Marisol Lewis at the end of the month. At the beginning of the year, he had a spare apartment key made for Clare Edwards. At the end of March, he thought himself an idiot for getting it but five months later, it turned out to be a not so stupid idea in hindsight. He had handed Marisol the key to his, no  _ their  _ apartment yesterday. It was no longer going to be just his apartment but Marisol and the baby’s as well.

They were going to be a small, cozy family.

“Good luck to you man, you’re going to need it,” Jake warned him and the only thing Eli could do was shrug again in response.

Right now, his only concern was getting higher.

* * *

_ Later that evening  _

Marisol was reading the classic  _ “What To Expect When You’re Expecting” _ when her doorbell rang. It couldn’t possibly be Eli because he was at work. She got up and braced herself for who it was when she went to see who it was outside. When she saw that it was her father, she stiffened. What was he doing here? To yell at her some more? They haven’t spoken in days.

It took all in her to actually open the door, and when she did, she was surprised at the apologetic look on her father’s face.

“I’m here to apologize to you, Mari,” he explained. “Can you let me in?”

“Are you going to kidnap me and force me to go to the clinic if I do?” She asked him wearily.

“No, please, I just want to talk,” he confirmed.

She reluctantly stepped aside to let him in. She then closed the door and made her way to the couch. When she sat down, he sat down next to her.

“After having a talk with your mother last night, and nearly getting deaf from her screaming, I realized my behavior towards you was unacceptable. I shouldn’t have spoken to you the way I did last week,” he began, “I let my anger take over my senses and I said horrible things to you and about your child’s father and you have every right to hate me.”

She folded her arms, waiting for him to continue.

“I’m not going to lie to you, this situation you’re currently in is not what I wanted for you as my daughter. I wanted you to make me a granddad after you were happily married and out of university for a few years. But that’s no longer what’s going to happen and there’s nothing I could do about it. You want to have this baby so you’re going to have it, and I have to give you credit for at least standing by what you feel is the best decision.”

“It doesn’t erase the fact that you think my child’s father would hurt them because of his mental disorder,” she pointed out with a frown.

“You can’t fault your father for worrying about you and your baby’s safety, especially considering your boyfriend’s past.”

“That’s the thing, Dad. The things you’re judging Eli for are from his  _ past _ . This is the present, and he’s no longer the guy who drove a hearse around and wrote a play to get his ex back. Eli got better, he got therapy for his issues, and he’s been healthy for two years now. He’s a sweet, caring boyfriend that’s willing to step up and be there for me and our baby. Shouldn’t that be enough for you?” She questioned him.

“Truth to be told, as soon as I held you in my arms for the first time when you were born and you smiled up at me, I knew there would never be a perfect man for you in my eyes,” he admitted, “And I can’t just completely trust Eli when you’ve only been dating him for three months, even if he’s the father of my unborn grandchild. But if you’re truly in love with him, and he’s truly in love with you to the point of not running away after impregnating you, then I can grow to like him.”

Her father then pulled out a check from his wallet and handed it to her. “I reacted to your pregnancy in a horrible way, but let me at least try to make it up to you. Take this check and use it for something important,” he said. Her eyes widened when she saw the amount. 

It was a thousand dollars.

“Daddy...,” she replied in shock as she took the check and gave it a closer look. 

“Now when I say important, I mean for the baby or rent money since you and Eli are living in one of the world’s most expensive cities, not for shopping,” he clarified while giving her a strict look.

“Thank you,” she said in gratitude, “So you’re not disowning me?”

“No, and I’m sorry again for what I said. I could never hate you for your choices, Mari. I’m your father and I’ll always love you no matter what,” he assured her as he reached over and squeezed her shoulder. “Is your old man forgiven?”

“Sure,” she accepted while nodding. 

Her father wrapped his arm around her and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

* * *

“So everything’s going to be fine between you and your dad, Mare?” Eli had asked her over the phone. He was only over the Torres Residence for a few hours before leaving, but not before giving Adam one final bro hug. Once again, he was about to be separated from his very best friend for nearly a whole year. It was a rough feeling. He was going to miss all of his best friends at NYU, but especially Adam. They were practically brothers.

“Yeah, he actually gave me money, Eli. For the baby and for our rent,” she confirmed and he could hear the relief in her voice. Even though he didn’t know exactly what Mr. Lewis said to his daughter, he was still upset for Marisol’s sake because she was pained by whatever he had said to her. Unlike Bullfrog, Dominic Lewis seemed to be a hard man with high standards. His nineteen year old daughter being pregnant before her sophomore year of university was probably one of his worst nightmares, and  _ he _ of all people was the one who knocked her up? Yeah, her father was probably seething in rage for a bit, but now he was much calmer about the pregnancy.

“That’s good, because we’re going to need all the assistance we can get,” he replied as he thought of how much money was about to be dropped on the rent alone. It was seven hundred and fifty dollars a month, and his parents were only offering to pay half of it. Honestly, he hasn’t told either set of his grandparents yet about the pregnancy because he was terrified of their reactions.

“Yeah...the next couple months are about to be a lot money wise,” she said.

“You think we can make a good side hustle selling porn of ourselves for money?” He joked.

“I rather not find out,” she answered dryly, and he could feel her rolling her eyes on the other line.

“Come on, babe. We don’t even have to show our faces, we can wear masks. I can even come up with special nicknames for us,” he insisted.

“You’re disgusting.”

“You know you love it,” he teased her.

“Sometimes I do, but you’re going to have to turn that behavior down for the baby. Don’t want it to emulate any bad behavior from Daddy,” she said, which made him snore.

“Oh please, Princess. A child of a bipolar emo guy and a scary queen bee is guaranteed to be fucked up. What more are some bad jokes from Papa going to do to the rugrat?” He argued.

“Remind me why I'm in love with you again,” she asked in an annoyed tone of voice, but he could hear the amusement in it.

“Because I’m nothing short of wonderful,” he boasted, “I’m your wonderful boyfriend that lives for nothing more than catering to your every need.”

“Catering to my every need _is_ the quickest way to earn my love,” she replied light-heartedly. “I’m especially going to need it now. Well and the baby is going to need it too.”

“Of course, and I’m excited to pamper my family, because I love the both of you so much,” he proclaimed.

“Family...I like the sound of that,” Marisol remarked.

“It’s what we’re going to be. You, me, and the rugrat. We’re going to make this work,” he vowed.

And he meant  _ every _ bit of what he said.

* * *

_ August 24th _

It was around 4 a.m. in the morning when Eli knocked on her door. Marisol was waiting for him in her living room with her mother. She had two glittery pink suitcases worth of clothes, shoes, and underwear, and a rhinestone-covered carry-on bag with her makeup, jewelry, and body products in it. She spent all night packing, and didn’t want to leave anything important behind.

Today, she was officially moving out of her house to leave with Eli for New York. It was going to be a long, nine hour drive but she was honestly very excited to be going on a road trip with her boyfriend.

She opened the door for him, and Eli stepped in with an enthusiastic smile on his face. “Ready?” He asked as he walked over and grabbed one of her suitcases. 

“Ready,” she confirmed while grabbing the other one. She looked towards her mother, who grabbed her carry-on bag by its handle.

“My goodness, Mari, you must have a whole kitchen sink worth of stuff in here!” Her mother complained.

“Well I didn’t want to leave anything important behind,” she replied with a shrug while her mother rolled her eyes. Pfft, as if she wasn’t as bad when it came to packing.

They all walked outside to load the items in Eli’s car. Eli took her suitcase from her hands so she wouldn’t have to do it herself. She wanted to roll her own eyes at how overprotective he was already acting, but at the same time she found it cute. Plus, there was no downside to her baby daddy pampering her.

When Eli closed his trunk and got in the driver’s seat of his car, Marisol turned to face her mother, who was barely holding in tears. It caused tears to spring up in her own eyes.

“I’ll miss you, Mama. I’ll miss everybody,” Marisol said as her and her mother shared a final, tight hug. 

“We’ll miss you too, Mari,” her mother replied with a sad smile as they pulled apart from each other. 

“I love you!” Marisol said with a sniffle as she got in the front passenger seat of Eli’s car.

“Love you too! Have a safe trip, and don’t do anything to harm my little grandbaby these next six months. Take good care of her, Eli!” Her mother urged as she closed the car door for her.

“Don’t worry, Martina. I will,” her boyfriend promised as he started the car. As he began to drive off, Marisol could barely see her mother wave them goodbye in the darkness. The further he drove away from her house, the tinier the view of it got.

Even though she was excited to move in with Eli, it didn’t erase the bittersweet feeling of leaving Toronto and her family behind even if she was going to be little less than half a day away from them all. She was going to miss her mother, her father, and her siblings. She was going to miss Little Miss Steaks. She was going to miss The Dot. She was going to miss everything about her home city. She felt like she was about to lose a part of her identity.

But there was an upside to this other than the obvious. Unlike last August, she wasn’t going to feel alone this time because Katie and Mo were gone, and she only had Jake. She now had Eli and their unborn child inside of her. While she hated leaving Jake behind, she was happy about building a new life with Eli instead of being sad constantly every day. While she was always going to hold a special place for Mo Mashkour because he was her first love, she was glad that they broke up because that led her to Eli Goldsworthy, who unexpectedly turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to her. A man that was basically the complete opposite of her in personality and style shouldn’t make her so happy, but he did. She loved him.

This was not what she was expecting three months ago, but there was nothing she could do but look towards the future, and despite the nervousness she was feeling about it, she had a feeling the future was going to be a bright one. A  _ beautiful _ , bright future filled with hope.

She was moving in with a guy that she was falling more in love with every day, and soon they would have a beautiful baby together. She had never been to New York City but her mouth was watering at all of the wonderful things she could do there....in particular shopping down Times Square and strolling along Central Park in her cute new maternity dresses. She could have candlelit dinners at fancy Manhattan restaurants, see amazing shows on Broadway, and see exotic animals at the zoo. The list of potential activities were endless, and she was going to do them all with her family.

Oh, the future was definitely shaping up to be a great one.

“Well, we’re on our way to our new life together, Princess,” Eli said to her as he drove, “I bet you this was the last thing you were expecting when you came into The Dot three months ago.”

“Yeah, but I’m glad. Because I got to know you, the real you, and being with you is the best thing that ever happened to me,” she replied with a smile.

She looked over and saw a soft smile grow on his face at that.

“I can say the same thing about you, Princess. I’m glad you’re going to be here in New York with me,” he said, and she was sad that they weren’t able to kiss right now. But she couldn’t be too sad, because there were plenty of kisses they were going to have on the road.

Who knew that an epic romance would be born out of two people venting about their bad breakups to each other?

  
  



	15. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well it’s been a journey y’all, and it’s time to say goodbye to yet another Elarisol fic. My idea for this came out of nowhere, especially since I hate S14 of the show so much, but it ended up being something cute and fun. Thank you for the views, and I hope all of you enjoyed this AU!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marisol’s perspective in this chapter is her and Eli doing NSFW tingz so for the final time, if you’re not into that, skip to the final scene from Eli’s perspective 💋

_ Four Years Later _

It was a long, boring day at the film studio.

Eli was feeling pretty tired as he walked up the steps to his apartment. Working on a film, even a small indie one was hard work and he was glad that he increased the dosage of his meds because his anxiety was getting worse recently due to the shenanigans that happened every day on set. The director of the film he was hired to write a script for, Tyler Jerkins, was an obnoxious asshole who kept talking down to everyone on set and kept making him rewrite the script even though it was hard. He wasn’t proud to admit it, but he had the urge to cry at times because it was so frustrating.

The only reason why he was putting up with this asshole was to advance his career, and the check from the movie was good enough to put food on the table. He hated his job right now but he knew he needed it to support his family.

When he reached his apartment, he got out his keys and immediately unlocked the door and stepped inside. Before he was even done closing the door and locking it up, a very enthusiastic little girl was charging towards him.

“Daddy!” Jada Lewis-Goldsworthy, the light of his life and the greatest gift he had ever received from someone, exclaimed happily as she hugged his legs. Eli grinned widely as he picked his daughter up and kissed her on both of her brown cheeks. She giggled and threw her arms around his neck. Just by holding her, he could feel the energy pour back into him.

“Hey babe,” his wife, Marisol, greeted him from their loveseat she was lounging on. She got off the couch, walked up to him and they shared a quick but tender kiss.

“No kissy Daddy, Mommy, thas my Daddy,” Jada scolded Marisol. Eli smirked at his wife, who gasped at the statement.

“Excuse you, little girl but your Daddy is  _ my _ husband!” Marisol fired back but Jada only buried her head in his neck and held onto him tighter out of possessiveness. “Thas my Daddy,” she muttered again. From her time in the womb, Jada was his sweet little Daddy’s girl. He was the first person to feel her kick and he was the first one to make her smile as an infant. Her first word was “dada”. There was a very long period of time where he was the only person allowed to hold her, and even now she was still attached to him at the hip at four years old. Most of the time, he loved it. 

“Mare, there is no greater bond in the world than between a man and his daughter, you know this,” he teased his wife, only for her to scoff in response.

“Hmph, we’ll see about that tonight,” she said as she went back to lounging on the couch and watching TV. While she kept a well polished appearance with a heavily made up face as a worker at Sephora, as soon as she came home, Marisol was eager to wash all that makeup off and dress in more comfortable clothes. But even though she wasn’t wearing any makeup, and was only wearing a silk scarf and pajamas, Eli still found his wife to be the most beautiful woman on the planet. What made her especially beautiful right now was the wedding ring she wore around her neck as a necklace. It was a rose gold band with a pearl in the center, and small diamonds embedded in the side in a leaf design. It was a perfect ring for a perfect woman.

The last four years were still a great shock to him, as he wasn’t expecting to become a father at twenty and a husband at twenty-two. Hell, when Marisol came into The Dot four years ago and started ranting to him about being dumped by Mo, he didn’t expect to fall deeply in love with her in response, but he had no regrets. He wouldn’t erase his family for the world even if having one was hectic at times.

“Daddy, can I have some chiggen nuggets?” Jada asked sweetly as she pulled away to look at him. Other than her thick eyebrows and head shape that she inherited from him, Jada was a mini Marisol in appearance. They even had the same skin tone and hair texture which led to a lot of annoying assumptions that he wasn’t her father.

“Mommy can make you some,” he replied to her as he put her down.

“No,” she rejected swiftly with a frown on her face and folded arms.

“She wants chicken nuggets from her Daddy only,” Marisol explained. “She only likes your cooking,  _ you know this _ ,” she added with a smug smile. Jada was looking at him with pleading eyes that reminded him of her mother’s whenever she wanted approval to buy a new pair of shoes.

Eli sighed. When he said he loved Jada being attached to him most of the time, this wasn’t one of those times. 

“Daddy doesn’t feel like cooking tonight, sweetheart. He’s tired from working all day,” he explained, and immediately felt bad at his daughter’s pout.

“But I want chiggen nuggets,” she replied sadly, and he nearly caved in at her tone but he had a better proposition for her.

“What about something even better….like pizza?” He suggested. His daughter’s face immediately brightened up.

“Pizza!” Jada cheered.

“We’re gonna order us some pizza!” He declared enthusiastically. She clapped excitedly in response before running off to her room, presumably to play with her toys. Eli pulled out his phone, dialed the number to the pizza place down the street, and placed an order for a large pepperoni pizza with barbecue wings and a two liter bottle of Pepsi. When he was done, he felt his wife wrapped her arms around him.

“So how was work today on the set of  _ Twisted Fantasies _ ?” Marisol asked him.

“Terrible, as always. And Tyler wants me to rewrite the script to make some changes to the ending that’s probably going to be shitty no matter what,” he grumbled.

“I’m so sorry, baby. Your big break will come around someday and you won’t have to be bullied by anyone,” she replied in sympathy while leaning her head on his shoulder.

“Yeah, well, hopefully someday is soon because I’m about ready to strangle this guy. The previous ‘movies’ he directed would be picked from a pile of direct-to-video shit at a Dollar Store,” he said. The guy thought he was a genius for some reason, just under-appreciated and misunderstood. In his mind, the only reason why his movies kept flopping was because people were too stupid to understand his genius. Definitely.

“Well, when you get to direct your own movies, everyone will get to appreciate your talent and brilliant mind. I promise you that,” she assured him. 

“And you’ll add your own fabulous touch to them, I’m sure,” he replied as he turned to face his wife with a smile. While Marisol still intended to own her own makeup line in the future, after attending makeup school, she realized she wanted to go into film and tv production with him as a makeup artist. It was his big priority as a future director for Marisol to work with him on his films. He wanted them to be a team.

“Of course, my work on your actors will be nothing short of beautiful,” she agreed proudly, “Now I’m thinking of what I can do to make you feel better about your bad at work today.”

“Oh, there’s plenty of things you can do to make me feel better,” he replied with a suggestive smirk. She reached down and tugged at his belt buckle.

“After our little munchkin goes to bed tonight, some magic is going to happen for you,” she purred as she leaned forward and kissed on his earlobe. She gently bit at it before pulling away and giving him a seductive smile as she walked off to check on Jada.

Eli continued to smirk as he went to sit down on their sofa. If there was only one thing at the moment he could praise about his wife, it was that she was always willing to make some “magic” for him in the bedroom.

Then again, Marisol Antoinette Lewis was a magical woman in general.

* * *

  
After a nice pizza dinner and a Disney movie, Jada was now tired. Eli retired to their bedroom about an half an hour ago while she read their daughter a bedtime story until her eyes were barely open. Marisol promptly carried Jada to her bedroom, tucked her in underneath her favorite blanket, kissed her little forehead, turned her bedroom light off, and then left the room.

Now that she put their daughter to sleep, it was time for her and Eli to have some fun.

Marisol went into the bathroom and changed into her outfit for the night, which was a lacy black, strapless bra and panty set with a black garter belt. Then she made up her face with silver eyeshadow and pink lip gloss. She shook her black hair out of its ponytail. With a mischievous glint in her eyes, she left the bathroom and strutted into their bedroom, where Eli was laying on their bed and reading a book.

Her husband casually looked up at her from his book, looked back down at his book.... and then immediately looked back up at her with wide eyes when he registered her appearance.

“Hello...,” he greeted her in shock, and she tried not to giggle. He was so cute when he was flustered.

“Hi,” she greeted back as she closed and locked the door behind her. The last time she didn’t, Jada rushed in on them to ask Eli to read her a bedtime story. The only problem was that Eli was in a compromising position between her legs at the time. It was an embarrassing moment for them to say the least, especially when she kept asking them questions about it the next day.

“Eli, I’m boreeeeddddd,” she announced playfully as she walked up to the bed.

“I’m so sorry, is there anything I can do about that?” He asked, playing along. She then crawled on top of him in the bed.

“I can think of a couple things,” she answered seductively before kissing him sensually on the lips. He kissed back, sucking on her bottom lip in desire. She pulled away and tugged on his shirt. 

“Take this shirt off for me, babe,” she ordered, and he placed the book down and immediately complied, showing off his body for her. “Mmm..you’re so sexy, Eli. There’s so many things I love about you,” she purred before giving him a quick kiss on the lips. “Your lips...”

She then kissed him on his jaw. “Your chiseled jawline....”

She then traveled down and kissed him on his neck, briefly biting on the skin. “Your neck...”

Next, she kissed both of his peach nipples. “These nipples...,” she said before pinching them both, making him groan. She softly twisted them between her manicured fingernails until they became rock hard.

Finally, she reached down to his pants. She went into his boxers and pulled out his dick. “Your yummy cock,” she said while licking her lips at the sight of it. She leaned down and licked trails from his balls to his tip. She flattened her tongue against his sensitive skin as she explored him. “Mare...,” Eli moaned out loudly.

“Shush. Not too loud, remember?” She reminded him, thinking of another unfortunate incident involving Jada. Just last week they were having loud sex when their daughter banged on their bedroom door in the middle of it, crying for Daddy to stop hurting Mommy. She had lied and said that Daddy was just simply giving Mommy a massage, but Jada was still traumatized. Another embarrassing moment in their parenthood.

“It’s hard to keep quiet with that sexy tongue of yours, I’m pretty sure you know that,” Eli replied, which made her smirk in pride. She was proud of the fact that her blowjobs were strong enough to have her emo husband moaning wantonly every time. 

“I do know that,” she purred before taking him into her mouth. She sucked around the tip before pulling back. She spat on his shaft before taking him even deeper into her throat while massaging his balls. He hardened quickly in her mouth as she bobbed her head up and down his length. The low moans he was letting out only pushed her to suck him even harder. After a few minutes, she pulled back again.

“Keep moaning for me, baby. It’s hitting me right in my pussy,” she encouraged seductively, referring to her increasingly damp panties. She reached down into her lacy underwear and started rubbing her clit for emphasis. She spat on him once more before deep throating him all down to his base, sucking in her cheeks along the way. It caused her mouth to make slurping noises along the way.

“You’re going to suck me until I cum, Princess,” he warned before shutting his eyes in bliss, letting out another soft moan. Her boyfriend started thrusting his hips into her mouth. Finally, after a few minutes, she pulled her lips from him for the final time.

“We can’t have that, can we?” She asked him while wiping her mouth. “I want you to cum in my pussy tonight,” she added mischievously while rising up.

“So do I,” he agreed with a hazy look in his beautiful green eyes. He really had the most perfect eyes, didn’t he? It was like cut emeralds bathing in fire. Perfect for the passionate man that was Eli Goldsworthy.

“I’m so happy that it’s so easy for us to agree on things,” she replied seductively before crawling up to him. Her husband smirked as he pulled down her damp panties for her. When he was done, he threw it over the side of the bed.

She grabbed his erect shaft and slowly sank herself down on it until he was fully inside of her, moaning softly along the way. He pulsated inside of her, which caused her walls to twitch around him.

As she started bouncing vigorously on his dick, Eli reached behind her and unhooked her bra for her, freeing her breasts. He took one of her nipples into her mouth and sucked tenderly, which nearly caused her to cry out from the sensitivity. He then gripped her ass with one of his big hands.

“Elijah...,” she whispered his name in arousal before biting down on her bottom lip. As she rode him, their bed underneath started to shake. “Fuck baby, your dick feels so good.”

“It always feels good, doesn’t it Princess? That’s why you want it all of the time,” he growled in response before roughly slapping her ass, nearly causing her to shout. He began thrusting upwards into her, and they both moved in sync with each other. The cries they were letting out were low, but intense.

He slapped her ass again as he came inside of her, which made her moan as her own orgasm came through. She kept riding him until exhaustion took over and she slowly lifted her hips off of him. 

She leaned down and deeply captured his lips in hers.

* * *

Hours later into the morning, Eli woke up.

It was a typical morning for him with his arm wrapped around his wife while she slept on his chest. Marisol slept with a smile on her face, which was typical after a night of great sex.

While having a four year old in the household meant that love making wasn’t guaranteed nearly 24/7 anymore, when they did make love it was as intense as it was before they had their sweet little girl. They both had fun coming up with new ways to spice up their sex life.

It’s been four years but he hasn’t fallen out of love with Marisol Lewis yet. The anniversary of their fateful conversation at The Dot was coming up and he had a special weekend planned out just for them. Jada was going to be dropped off at Fiona and Imogen’s place since they also lived in New York.

When Peter Stone encouraged him to “snatch up” Marisol all those years ago, he was flabbergasted at the idea at first, but not only did he snatch her up for himself the next night, but he knocked her up and married her too. It was amusing to think about in hindsight. Back then, he was still getting over the fact that she wasn’t as horrible as he thought and the idea of them together at all was laughable despite the wet dreams he had of her. He was glad that he listened to Peter’s “advice” though, because it led him to his real soulmate.

He thought Clare Edwards was his soulmate because they seemingly went through so much to be together and he felt that she understood him more than anyone. His heart was crushed when they broke apart the final time. However, he fell in love with Marisol soon after despite their differences, and even though they had a surprise baby thrown at them, they made it through and only became closer. Their love seemed so unexpected at first but looking back at it, it actually made sense.

They had both grown so much as individuals after high school and maybe that’s what allowed them to fall in love. They realized that the other person was so much more than the negative stereotypes they had of them in their head, and because of that saw the real part of them. Marisol still had her moments of being bitchy, overdramatic, and snobby, but he knew that she was a sweet, caring woman underneath it all that loved him for what he was.

And he loved her so much, he couldn’t imagine spending this kind of life with anyone else.

“Eli…,” Marisol said to him as she stirred awake, rubbing his bare chest as she looked up at him. “Good morning, baby,” she added with a soft smile.

“Morning,” he replied, smiling back. They then shared a kiss in the bed. The soft, tender feel of her full lips against his own was always a great way to start the day.

“Last night made me realize something,” she said.

“And what is that?” He questioned in interest.

“I want to have another baby with you,” she confessed.

“Another little rugrat? Isn’t the one we already have enough for now, Mare?” He pointed out. Kids were a handful, stressful, and worst of all expensive, and the possibility of dealing with both an asshole director  _ and  _ a pregnant Marisol at the same time was a terrifying prospect.

However, he had to admit that he was already missing having a baby in his arms, and he  _ was _ a little sad that Jada was going to be old enough to start kindergarten next year…..

“I know, I know, but I’m getting baby fever and I want our family to get bigger. I always wanted more kids Eli, and I think it’s time for Jada to become a big sister, don’t you think?”

He had to think it over for a few minutes, and he spent those minutes looking up at the ceiling instead of his wife, who was looking at him in expectation for his answer. 

When he finally came to a decision, Marisol decided to speak again with disappointment in her voice. “I understand if you don’t-”

He cut her off with a passionate kiss, which caused her to let out a squeak of surprise in his mouth. When he pulled away from her, he gave her a look full of both love and lust.

“If you want another baby, then I guess now would be a perfect time to start, right?” He asked her in a husky voice.

“Yeah…,” she answered while looking at him in pure desire. 

Within seconds, he was on top of her and had her arms pinned above her head. 

“Alright, Princess, let’s put a baby in you then…,” he growled out before slamming his lips against hers.

The only thing his wife could do in response was moan in pleasure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My next multi-chaptered Elarisol fic will be an AU of S10 and it’s going to be quite the wild ride so stay tuned!


End file.
